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http://hdl.handle.net/2248/6055
Title: | Habitable Planets Eclipsing Brown Dwarfs: Strategies for Detection and Characterization |
Authors: | Belu, A. R Selsis, F Raymond, S. N Palle, E Street, R Sahu, D. K Braun, K. V Bolmont, E Figueira, P Anupama, G. C Ribas, Ignasi |
Keywords: | Astrobiology Brown dwarfs Eclipses Infrared: planetary systems Instrumentation: spectrographs Solar neighborhood |
Issue Date: | 10-May-2013 |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
Citation: | The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 768, No. 2, 125 |
Abstract: | Given the very close proximity of their habitable zones, brown dwarfs (BDs) represent high-value targets in the search for nearby transiting habitable planets that may be suitable for follow-up occultation spectroscopy. In this paper, we develop search strategies to find habitable planets transiting BDs depending on their maximum habitable orbital period (P HZ out). Habitable planets with P HZ out shorter than the useful duration of a night (e.g., 8-10 hr) can be screened with 100% completeness from a single location and in a single night (near-IR). More luminous BDs require continuous monitoring for longer duration, e.g., from space or from a longitude-distributed network (one test scheduling achieved three telescopes, 13.5 contiguous hours). Using a simulated survey of the 21 closest known BDs (within 7 pc) we find that the probability of detecting at least one transiting habitable planet is between $4.5^{+5.6}_{-1.4}$% and $56^{+31}_{-13}$%, depending on our assumptions. We calculate that BDs within 5-10 pc are characterizable for potential biosignatures with a 6.5 m space telescope using ~1% of a five-year mission's lifetime spread over a contiguous segment only one-fifth to one-tenth of this duration. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2248/6055 |
ISSN: | 1538-4357 |
Appears in Collections: | IIAP Publications Publications based on data from IAO, Hanle |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Habitable Planets Eclipsing Brown Dwarfs.pdf | Open Access | 1.51 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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