Planet Search Activities at OPINAS@MPE
pre-OmegaTranS
In 2006-2008 we conducted the pre-OmegaTranS survey for transiting
planets using the ESO Wide Field Imager mounted at the 2.2m telescope
in LaSilla observatory. In 34 nights a total of 4433 images have been
collected in the Johnson R-band. The exposure time was 25s. The Data
has been analyzed using the
Astrowise data reduction
pipeline. As a preliminary result we show our best candidate, a
transiting hot Jupiter in a 1.5 day orbit around a late K-dwarf, that
is currently being followed-up.
Follow-Up of transit candidates
In addition to our transit survey we contributed significantly to the
confirmation of the transiting planet OGLE-TR-L9
(astroph-0812.0599,
Snellen et al., AA, accepted). Using the 7-chanel grizJHK imager
GROND at the 2.2m telescope in La Silla we observed one full
transit. Together with RV observations taken with UVES/VLT, we have
been able to rule out all other scenarios (blend or massive transiting
companion). In the future we plan to extend the use of GROND for a
transit timing project (in collaboration with MPIA/Heidelberg).
Search for Planets with PanSTARRS1
The
PanPlanets project will soon start to observe ~50 sq.deg of sky to
monitor the light curves of ~150000 F, G, and K dwarfs brighter than
V=16.5 and ~34000 M dwarfs with i'<18. Our simulations
(astroph-0812.1559,
Koppenhoefer et al., AA, in press) show that we expect to find up
to 25 Jupiter-sized planets with periods below 5 days. The survey
will also be sensitive to planets with longer periods and planets with
smaller radii. After the second year of the survey, we expect to find
up to 9 Warm Jupiters with periods between 5 and 9 days and 7 Very Hot
Saturns around stars brighter than V = 16.5 mag as well as 9 Very Hot
Neptunes with periods from 1 to 3 days around stars brighter than i' =
18.0 mag.
Radial velocity studies with HET
As a preparation for the radial-velocity follow-up of transit
candidates that will be found in
RoPACS (see below) and
PanPlanets we started a RV-project at the HET. In the 3rd trimester
of 2008 (Aug-Nov) we obtained a total of 96 visits of 5 objects with
the high resolution spectrograph (R=60000). Each visit consists of one
exposure with simultaneous use of an iodine absorption cell and one
without. This will allow us to compare the precision achieved with I2
method to the precision we achieve with a ThAr wavelength calibration.
We spent 10 visits on the V=6.9mag G3V-star HD195019 which is known to
have a planet with a period of 18.2 days. The radial velocity
peak-to-peak amplitude is 266 m/s. The spectra we got have a S/N of
300-400. With this we expect to achieve a precision of ~4 m/s.
In order to investigate the precision we reach with HET on fainter
stars, another 8 visits have been used on U1050_14975145, a V=14.5
star in the Pan-Panets field. With a S/N of ~25 we hope to achieve a
precision of 40-80 m/s.
The remaining visits are used for 3 other late type stars in the
magnitude range 9.5-10.5. With a precision of ~10 m/s there is a
chance to actually detect a new extra-solar planet.
Our role in RoPACS
We offer our experience in the reduction and analisis of light curves
(see the recent discovery of a planet around a fast rotating
star astroph-0812.0599,
Snellen et al., AA, in press, where we were involved) to help in the
selection of the RoPACS planet candidates. Once candidates are
available, we will follow them up photometrically and
spectroscopically (see above). RoPACS PhD students at our site will be
involved in both phases, starting to work on the already acquired data
(see above). Up to
2 PhD RoPACS positions
have been filled at our node starting
from September 2009.
1 PostDoc RoPACS position
will be announced soon at our node.
Last revision: December, 2009
Roberto Philip Saglia (saglia@mpe.mpg.de)