Discovery of New Small, Cool Planets Orbiting M-Dwarf Stars

发现绕 M 矮星运行的新小而冷行星

• 批准号: 1824644
• 负责人: Ian Crossfield
• 金额: $ 27.7万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1824644&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Discovery; New; Small; Cool; Planets

The coolest and oldest stars are known as the M dwarf stars. Because they are cooler, they could have many Earth-sized planets around them that have the means of hosting life. The investigators will combine observations from the Kepler spacecraft mission "K2", and from telescopes on the Earth, to make the largest-known sample of planets around M dwarf stars. They will measure the number and characteristics of planets that occur for different types of stars, and find and confirm planets that could host life as we understand it. These planets then become targets for future space telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope to study further in depth. This research serves the national interest by expanding our scientific knowledge about extrasolar planets that could host life. The investigators will work with Tucson's Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium to engage the community on the discovery and study of extrasolar planets, including supporting field trips by local, underserved student populations.M dwarf stars offer the best prospects for finding rocky, Earth-sized, potentially habitable planets, and for studying their frequency of occurrence and their characteristics. These goals, however, remain mostly unrealized because past surveys have largely overlooked M dwarf stars in favor of solar-like stars. This research will support previous highly-successful surveys with the extended Kepler spacecraft mission K2, and key ground-based telescopic support facilities, to produce the largest known sample of planets around M stars. The investigators will measure planet occurrence frequency as a function of stellar and planetary properties; fill key gaps in formation models of low-mass systems; find potentially habitable planets; and find attractive targets for atmospheric characterization with the future James Webb Space Telescope. After K2 data are released, the investigators will extract photometry, identify and validate planet candidates. They then acquire follow-up imaging and spectroscopy to identify false positives, classify stars, and validate planets. The combination of K2 light curves, reconnaissance spectra, and radial velocity data determine precise stellar and planetary parameters. Finally, a global synthesis of all data measures the survey completeness and global occurrence rate of planets around M dwarf stars, including the frequency of habitable, rocky planets. The investigators will partner with Tucson's Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium to engage the community on the discovery and study of extrasolar planets, including supporting field trips by local, underserved student populations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

最酷，最古老的恒星被称为M矮星。因为它们凉爽，所以他们周围可能有许多具有托管生命手段的地球大小的行星。研究人员将结合开普勒航天器任务“ K2”的观察结果，以及地球上望远镜的观察结果，以制造M矮人恒星周围最大的行星样本。他们将衡量针对不同类型恒星的行星的数量和特征，并找到并确认可以托管我们理解生命的行星。然后，这些行星成为未来太空望远镜的目标，例如James Webb太空望远镜，以深入研究。这项研究通过扩大我们对可能托管生命的外星行星的科学知识来迎合国家利益。研究人员将与图森的弗兰德劳科学中心和天文馆合作，吸引社区的发现和研究，包括在当地，服务不足的学生人群的支持和研究。但是，这些目标主要是未实现的，因为过去的调查在很大程度上忽略了M矮人的明星，而是赞成类似太阳能的恒星。这项研究将通过扩展的开普勒飞船任务K2和基于地面的伸缩式支撑设施来支持以前的高度成功调查，以生产M恒星周围最大的已知行星样本。研究人员将测量行星的发生频率是恒星和行星特性的函数。在低质量系统的编队模型中填补关键空白；找到潜在的可居住行星；并通过未来的詹姆斯·韦伯（James Webb）太空望远镜找到有吸引力的大气表征目标。释放K2数据后，研究人员将提取光度法，识别和验证候选行星。然后，他们获取后续成像和光谱法，以识别误报，对恒星进行分类和验证行星。 K2光曲线，侦察光谱和径向速度数据的组合决定了精确的恒星和行星参数。最后，所有数据的全球合成衡量了M矮星周围行星的调查完整性和全球发生率，包括可居住的岩石行星的频率。调查人员将与图森的弗兰德劳科学中心和天文馆合作，让社区参与发现和研究外星球外行星，包括在当地，服务不足的学生人群的支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的智力功能和广泛影响的评估来评估CREIRIA的评估。