Exoplanet discovery and characterisation - Rolling Grant Transfer/Re-issue
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
The SuperWASP experiment is the most successful ground based exoplanet detection facility. After its recent upgrade it is now capable of discovering ice giant planets in short orbits and the data from its first 2 year run is now being ingested into the WASP archive. We will continue our successful exploitation of this data in our exoplanet discovery and characterisation programme and prepare for the the first data from our new world leading NGTS experiment. NGTS is designed for routine detection of ice-giants and its red- sensitivity means it will be the leading source of rocky super-Earth planets that are confirmable with current equipment. This will allow us to lead in understanding the most common types of planet and allow us to take the first steps in looking at the different classes of planet and their characteristics.
For our brightest planets we will conduct follow up observations that will allow us to understand their dynamical histories and take the first steps to characterise their atmospheres.
In addition we will study the architectures of exoplanetary systems and in particular we will characterise bright multi-planet and circumbinary systems. Through our collaborations this will allow us to place strong constraints on their evolutionary histories.
This proposal is to allow the transfer of the PI's current fEC from QUB to the University of Warwick where he has recently taken up a new position.
For our brightest planets we will conduct follow up observations that will allow us to understand their dynamical histories and take the first steps to characterise their atmospheres.
In addition we will study the architectures of exoplanetary systems and in particular we will characterise bright multi-planet and circumbinary systems. Through our collaborations this will allow us to place strong constraints on their evolutionary histories.
This proposal is to allow the transfer of the PI's current fEC from QUB to the University of Warwick where he has recently taken up a new position.
Planned Impact
Astronomy has always captured the attention of humans. Some of the deepest philosophical questions pertaining to our existence in the universe are perceived to be of (or at least related to) an astronomical nature. This gives us a massive advantage when compared to other scientific endevours. In no subject is this more true than exoplanets as their existence is bound up with the search for intelligent life in the universe - one of the mother questions of our existence. With this in mind we have found that the principles underlying exoplanet detection and bulk characterization are ideal subject matter to demonstrate basic physics in an exciting way and naturally lead in to discussions of habitability (both in the context of exoplanets and the Earth).
After recent NAM's the most popular news releases have invariable been those that are concerned with extrasolar planets. We are fortunate that the WASP project put UK astronomers at the forefront of this subject and the applicants have gained much experience with the media (radio, print and TV). This was recognized with the award of the 2010 Royal Society Exhibition "The detection of extra-terrestrial life and the consequences for science and society" where the applicants were active participants. The WASP project really grabbed both the national and international attention. At the international level the Project was received the accolade of one of the top ten discovery's in all of science in 2007 after the announcement/publication of WASP-3b (Pollacco et al, 2008, MNRAS 385, 1576). On a national stage, Pollacco, on behalf of the WASP Consortium, received the RAS Team Achievement Award for 2010.
NGTS will be the premiere transit experiment in the near/medium future and with science drivers that will make some of our most exciting discoveries of great public interest: NGTS exoplanets will be amongst the closest and potentially of rocky composition. Furthermore, NGTS planets will be prized targets for all future atmospheric characterization missions (including JWST). At a national level our demonstrated relationship with STFC Outreach and, of course, our universities will guarantee interest for all audiences.
After recent NAM's the most popular news releases have invariable been those that are concerned with extrasolar planets. We are fortunate that the WASP project put UK astronomers at the forefront of this subject and the applicants have gained much experience with the media (radio, print and TV). This was recognized with the award of the 2010 Royal Society Exhibition "The detection of extra-terrestrial life and the consequences for science and society" where the applicants were active participants. The WASP project really grabbed both the national and international attention. At the international level the Project was received the accolade of one of the top ten discovery's in all of science in 2007 after the announcement/publication of WASP-3b (Pollacco et al, 2008, MNRAS 385, 1576). On a national stage, Pollacco, on behalf of the WASP Consortium, received the RAS Team Achievement Award for 2010.
NGTS will be the premiere transit experiment in the near/medium future and with science drivers that will make some of our most exciting discoveries of great public interest: NGTS exoplanets will be amongst the closest and potentially of rocky composition. Furthermore, NGTS planets will be prized targets for all future atmospheric characterization missions (including JWST). At a national level our demonstrated relationship with STFC Outreach and, of course, our universities will guarantee interest for all audiences.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Don Pollacco (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Anderson D
(2015)
THE WELL-ALIGNED ORBIT OF WASP-84b: EVIDENCE FOR DISK MIGRATION OF A HOT JUPITER
in The Astrophysical Journal
Anderson D
(2014)
Three newly discovered sub-Jupiter-mass planets: WASP-69b and WASP-84b transit active K dwarfs and WASP-70Ab transits the evolved primary of a G4+K3 binary?†
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Anderson D
(2013)
Thermal emission at 3.6-8 µm from WASP-19b: a hot Jupiter without a stratosphere orbiting an active star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Anderson D
(2012)
WASP-44b, WASP-45b and WASP-46b: three short-period, transiting extrasolar planets WASP-44b, WASP-45b and WASP-46b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Anderson D
(2015)
WASP-20b and WASP-28b: a hot Saturn and a hot Jupiter in near-aligned orbits around solar-type stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Anderson D. R.
(2017)
The discoveries of WASP-91b, WASP-105b and WASP-107b: two warm Jupiters and a planet in the transition region between ice giants and gas giants
in ArXiv e-prints
Armstrong D
(2013)
Detecting circumbinary planets: A new quasi-periodic search algorithm
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Armstrong D
(2015)
The host stars of Kepler 's habitable exoplanets: superflares, rotation and activity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armstrong D
(2013)
Placing limits on the transit timing variations of circumbinary exoplanets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armstrong D
(2015)
K2 variable catalogue - II. Machine learning classification of variable stars and eclipsing binaries in K2 fields 0-4
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armstrong D
(2013)
A catalogue of temperatures for Kepler eclipsing binary stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armstrong D
(2012)
A transiting companion to the eclipsing binary KIC002856960
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Armstrong D
(2014)
Detecting Circumbinary Exoplanets: Understanding Transit Timing
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Armstrong D
(2017)
Transit shapes and self-organizing maps as a tool for ranking planetary candidates: application to Kepler and K2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armstrong D
(2015)
One of the closest exoplanet pairs to the 3:2 mean motion resonance: K2-19b and c
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Armstrong D
(2014)
On the abundance of circumbinary planets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Armstrong D
(2015)
K2 Variable Catalogue: Variable stars and eclipsing binaries in K2 campaigns 1 and 0
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Barros S
(2016)
WASP-113b and WASP-114b, two inflated hot Jupiters with contrasting densities
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Barros S
(2013)
Transit timing variations in WASP-10b induced by stellar activity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barros S
(2012)
High-precision transit observations of the exoplanet WASP-13b with the RISE instrument Transit observations of WASP-13b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barros S
(2015)
Photodynamical mass determination of the multiplanetary system K2-19
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bayliss D
(2016)
EPIC 201702477b: A TRANSITING BROWN DWARF FROM K2 IN A 41 DAY ORBIT
in The Astronomical Journal
Bonomo A
(2014)
Characterization of the planetary system Kepler-101 with HARPS-N A hot super-Neptune with an Earth-sized low-mass companion
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Broeg C
(2013)
CHEOPS: A transit photometry mission for ESA's small mission programme
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Brothwell R
(2014)
A window on exoplanet dynamical histories: Rossiter-McLaughlin observations of WASP-13b and WASP-32b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Brown D
(2012)
ANALYSIS OF SPIN-ORBIT ALIGNMENT IN THE WASP-32, WASP-38, AND HAT-P-27/WASP-40 SYSTEMS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Brown D
(2017)
Rossiter-McLaughlin models and their effect on estimates of stellar rotation, illustrated using six WASP systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Brown D
(2012)
Rossiter-McLaughlin effect measurements for WASP-16, WASP-25 and WASP-31? The alignment of WASP-16, WASP-25 and WASP-31
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Burton J
(2015)
Defocused transmission spectroscopy: a potential detection of sodium in the atmosphere of WASP-12b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Burton J
(2014)
TIDALLY DISTORTED EXOPLANETS: DENSITY CORRECTIONS FOR SHORT-PERIOD HOT-JUPITERS BASED SOLELY ON OBSERVABLE PARAMETERS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Burton J
(2012)
z '-BAND GROUND-BASED DETECTION OF THE SECONDARY ECLIPSE OF WASP-19b
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Cappetta M
(2012)
The first planet detected in the WTS: an inflated hot Jupiter in a 3.35 d orbit around a late F star Inflated HJ in close orbit around a late-F-star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cappetta M
(2014)
Erratum: The first planet detected in the WTS: an inflated hot-Jupiter in a 3.35 d orbit around a late F star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cegla H
(2012)
Stellar jitter from variable gravitational redshift: implications for radial velocity confirmation of habitable exoplanets Stellar jitter from variable GR
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Chew Y
(2014)
The HoSTS Project: A Homogeneous Study of Transiting Systems
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Copperwheat C
(2016)
Liverpool Telescope follow-up of candidate electromagnetic counterparts during the first run of Advanced LIGO
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cosentino R
(2012)
Harps-N: the new planet hunter at TNG
David T
(2017)
A Transient Transit Signature Associated with the Young Star RIK-210
in The Astrophysical Journal
Delrez L
(2016)
WASP-121 b: a hot Jupiter close to tidal disruption transiting an active F star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Delrez L
(2014)
Transiting planets from WASP-South, Euler, and TRAPPIST WASP-68 b, WASP-73 b, and WASP-88 b, three hot Jupiters transiting evolved solar-type stars???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Doyle A
(2013)
Accurate spectroscopic parameters of WASP planet host stars?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dressing C
(2015)
THE MASS OF Kepler-93b AND THE COMPOSITION OF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dumusque X
(2014)
THE KEPLER-10 PLANETARY SYSTEM REVISITED BY HARPS-N: A HOT ROCKY WORLD AND A SOLID NEPTUNE-MASS PLANET
in The Astrophysical Journal
Díaz R
(2016)
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XXXVIII. Bayesian re-analysis of three systems. New super-Earths, unconfirmed signals, and magnetic cycles ???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Exter K
(2014)
The exotic eclipsing nucleus of the ring planetary nebula SuWt 2
in EAS Publications Series
Faedi F
(2013)
The SOAPS project - Spin-orbit alignment of planetary systems Exoplanets' evolution histories in systems with different architectures
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Faedi F
(2013)
Lucky imaging of transiting planet host stars with LuckyCam
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Faedi F
(2013)
WASP-54b, WASP-56b, and WASP-57b: Three new sub-Jupiter mass planets from SuperWASP
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Faedi F.
(2016)
WASP-86b and WASP-102b: super-dense versus bloated planets
in arXiv e-prints
Description | Continued characterisation of large planets. These objects have the most accurately determined parameters of the population. |
Exploitation Route | used by theorists to understand the planet population. |
Sectors | Education |