J/AJ/157/242 An updated study of potential targets for Ariel (Edwards+, 2019)
An updated study of potential targets for Ariel.
Edwards B., Mugnai L., Tinetti G., Pascale E., Sarkar S.
<Astron. J., 157, 242-242 (2019)>
=2019AJ....157..242E 2019AJ....157..242E (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Exoplanets ; Effective temperatures ; Stars, double and multiple ;
Photometry, infrared ; Models
Keywords: planets and satellites: atmospheres - techniques: spectroscopic
Abstract:
Ariel has been selected as ESA's M4 mission for launch in 2028 and is
designed for the characterization of a large and diverse population of
exoplanetary atmospheres to provide insights into planetary formation
and evolution within our Galaxy. Here we present a study of Ariel's
capability to observe currently known exoplanets and predicted Transiting
Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) discoveries. We use the Ariel
radiometric model (ArielRad) to simulate the instrument performance and
find that ∼2000 of these planets have atmospheric signals which could
be characterized by Ariel. This list of potential planets contains a
diverse range of planetary and stellar parameters. From these we select
an example mission reference sample (MRS), comprised of 1000 diverse
planets to be completed within the primary mission life, which is
consistent with previous studies. We also explore the mission capability
to perform an in-depth survey into the atmospheres of smaller planets,
which may be enriched or secondary. Earth-sized planets and super-Earths
with atmospheres heavier than H/He will be more challenging to observe
spectroscopically. However, by studying the time required to observe
∼110 Earth-sized/super-Earths, we find that Ariel could have substantial
capability for providing in-depth observations of smaller planets.
Trade-offs between the number and type of planets observed will form a
key part of the selection process and this list of planets will continually
evolve with new exoplanet discoveries replacing predicted detections.
The Ariel target list will be constantly updated and the MRS re-selected
to ensure maximum diversity in the population of planets studied during
the primary mission life.
Description:
Ariel has been selected as the next ESA medium-class science mission and
is due for launch in 2028. During its 4 yr mission, Ariel aims to observe
∼1000 exoplanets ranging from Jupiters and Neptunes down to super-Earth
size in the visible and the infrared with its meter-class telescope. During
Phase A, the ESA radiometric model (Puig et al. 2015ExA....40..393P 2015ExA....40..393P) was
utilized to assess the duration and type of observations needed to meet
the mission requirements. Although the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
instrument will also be used for spectroscopy, the mission requirements
are baselined on the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) channels, as these
bands are typically the most demanding. During Phase A, a study of Ariel's
capabilities to observe known and predicted planets was conducted and
a mission reference sample (MRS; i.e., a list of exoplanets to be observed
during the primary mission life) of ∼1000 potential targets was created
(Zingales et al. 2018ExA....46...67Z 2018ExA....46...67Z). Planning of observations with Ariel
is based around a tiered approach. As envisaged in Phase A, a survey tier
aims to observe 1000 planets with low-resolution spectroscopy to produce
a statistically viable data set of a diverse range of exoplanetary
atmospheres.
Exoplanetary data was downloaded from NASA's Exoplanet Archive in order
to account for all confirmed planets before being filtered such that only
transiting planets were considered. The database was last accessed on
2019 February 26.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table6.dat 47 361 Currently known exoplanets which are considered
here to be potential targets for Ariel
table7.dat 47 9 Planets in the NASA Exoplanet Archive that have
been detected by TESS, all of which are found to
be suitable for study with Ariel
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See also:
J/ApJ/809/77 : Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) (Sullivan+, 2015)
J/AJ/156/102 : The TESS Input Catalog and Candidate Target List
(Stassun+, 2018)
J/ApJS/239/2 : Simulated exoplanets from TESS list of targets
(Barclay+, 2018)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table6.dat table7.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 14 A14 --- Planet Planet name
16- 19 I4 K Teff [2559/7147] Stellar effective temperature
21- 26 F6.3 mag Kmag [3.26/13.17] K band magnitude
28- 32 F5.2 Rgeo Rp [0.4/22.88] Planetary radius
34- 37 I4 K Teq [191/2638] Planetary equilibrium temperature
39 I1 --- Tier [1/3] Maximum tier number (1)
41- 47 A7 --- Meth Preferred method (Eclipse or Transit)
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Note (1): Resolution of the final data set across each instrument in each tier
(Table 2 of this paper):
-----------------------------------------
Instrument name Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3
-----------------------------------------
NIRSpec R∼1 R∼10 R∼20
AIRS Ch0 R∼3 R∼50 R∼100
AIRS Ch1 R∼1 R∼10 R∼30
-----------------------------------------
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Tiphaine Pouvreau [CDS] 22-Aug-2019