Astronomy & Telescopes

Astrometric Detection of Exoplanets from the Ground

By Keith Cowing
astro-ph.SR
September 3, 2013
Filed under ,
Astrometric Detection of Exoplanets from the Ground

Astrometry is a powerful technique to study the populations of extrasolar planets around nearby stars. It gives access to a unique parameter space and is therefore required for obtaining a comprehensive picture of the properties, abundances, and architectures of exoplanetary systems.

In this review, we discuss the scientific potential, present the available techniques and instruments, and highlight a few results of astrometric planet searches, with an emphasis on observations from the ground. In particular, we discuss astrometric observations with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Interferometer and a programme employing optical imaging with a VLT camera, both aimed at the astrometric detection of exoplanets.

Finally, we set these efforts into the context of Gaia, ESA’s astrometry mission scheduled for launch in 2013, and present an outlook on the future of astrometric exoplanet detection from the ground.

J. Sahlmann, P. F. Lazorenko, A. Merand, D. Queloz, D. Segransan, J. Woillez (Submitted on 2 Sep 2013)

Comments: 9 pages, 3 figures. Invited contribution to the SPIE conference “Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets VI” held in San Diego, CA, August 25-29, 2013

Subjects: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)

Cite as: arXiv:1309.0329 [astro-ph.SR]

(or arXiv:1309.0329v1 [astro-ph.SR] for this version) Submission history From: Johannes Sahlmann [view email] [v1] Mon, 2 Sep 2013 09:12:15 GMT (83kb,D)

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻