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Hubble Space Telescope search for the transit of the Earth-mass exoplanet α Centauri Bb

Demory, Brice-Olivier ; Ehrenreich, David ; Queloz, Didier ; Seager, Sara ; Gilliland, Ronald ; Chaplin, William J. ; Proffitt, Charles ; Gillon, Michael ; Günther, Maximilian N. ; Benneke, Björn ; Dumusque, Xavier ; Lovis, Christophe ; Pepe, Francesco ; Ségransan, Damien ; Triaud, Amaury ; Udry, Stéphane

In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2015, vol. 450, no. 2, p. 2043-2051

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    Titre
    • Hubble Space Telescope search for the transit of the Earth-mass exoplanet α Centauri Bb
    Auteur
    • Demory, Brice-Olivier. Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J.J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
    • Ehrenreich, David. Observatoire Astronomique de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
    • Queloz, Didier. Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J.J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
    • Seager, Sara. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
    • Gilliland, Ronald. Department of Astronomy, and Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802, USA
    • Chaplin, William J.. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
    • Proffitt, Charles. Science Programs, Computer Sciences Corporation, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
    • Gillon, Michael. Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université of Liège, allée du 6 Aout 17, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
    • Günther, Maximilian N.. Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J.J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
    • Benneke, Björn. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
    • Dumusque, Xavier. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
    • Lovis, Christophe. Observatoire Astronomique de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
    • Pepe, Francesco. Observatoire Astronomique de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
    • Ségransan, Damien. Observatoire Astronomique de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
    • Triaud, Amaury. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
    • Udry, Stéphane. Observatoire Astronomique de l'Université de Genève, 51 chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2015, vol. 450, no. 2, p. 2043-2051. Oxford University Press
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:292532
    Summary
    Results from exoplanet surveys indicate that small planets (super-Earth size and below) are abundant in our Galaxy. However, little is known about their interiors and atmospheres. There is therefore a need to find small planets transiting bright stars, which would enable a detailed characterization of this population of objects. We present the results of a search for the transit of the Earth-mass exoplanet α Centauri Bb with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We observed α Centauri B twice in 2013 and 2014 for a total of 40h. We achieve a precision of 115ppm per 6-s exposure time in a highly saturated regime, which is found to be consistent across HST orbits. We rule out the transiting nature of α Centauri Bb with the orbital parameters published in the literature at 96.6 per cent confidence. We find in our data a single transit-like event that could be associated with another Earth-sized planet in the system, on a longer period orbit. Our programme demonstrates the ability of HST to obtain consistent, high-precision photometry of saturated stars over 26h of continuous observations