Exoplanets; Space missions; IR spectroscopy; Molecular signatures
Abstract :
[en] Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet's birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number ( 1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25-7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10-100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H[SUB]2[/SUB]O, CO[SUB]2[/SUB], CH[SUB]4[/SUB] NH[SUB]3[/SUB], HCN, H[SUB]2[/SUB]S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed - using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement - using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL - in line with the stated mission objectives - will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Tinetti, Giovanna; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Drossart, Pierre; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Eccleston, Paul; STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Didcot, UK
Hartogh, Paul; Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Heske, Astrid; European Space Agency-ESTEC, Noorwijk, The Netherlands
Leconte, Jérémy; Observatoire de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
Alard, Christophe; Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Paris, France
Allard, Nicole; GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Altieri, Francesca; INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy
André, Yves; Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, France
Arena, Claudio; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Argyriou, Ioannis; Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Aylward, Alan; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Baccani, Cristian; Università di Firenze, Florence, Italy
Bakos, Gaspar; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Banaszkiewicz, Marek; Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
Barlow, Mike; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Batista, Virginie; Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Paris, France
Bellucci, Giancarlo; INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy
Benatti, Serena; INAF - OAP, Padova, Italy
Bernardi, Pernelle; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Bézard, Bruno; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Blecka, Maria; Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
Bolmont, Emeline; Centre Energie Atomique, Saclay, France
Bonfond, Bertrand ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Fletcher, Leigh; University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Forget, François; LMD, Paris, France
Fossey, Steve; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Fränz, Markus; Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Fujii, Yuka; ELSI, Tokyo, Japan
García-Piquer, Álvaro; Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Gear, Walter; Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Geoffray, Hervé; Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, France
Gérard, Jean-Claude ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO)
Gesa, Lluis; Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Gomez, H.; Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Graczyk, Rafał; Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
Griffith, Caitlin; LPL, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
Grodent, Denis ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Guarcello, Mario Giuseppe; INAF: Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo G.S. Vaiana, Palermo, Italy
Gustin, Jacques; Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium
Hamano, Keiko; ELSI, Tokyo, Japan
Hargrave, Peter; Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Hello, Yann; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Heng, Kevin; University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Herrero, Enrique; Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Hornstrup, Allan; DTU Space, Lyngby, Denmark
Hubert, Benoît ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Ida, Shigeru; ELSI, Tokyo, Japan
Ikoma, Masahiro; Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
Iro, Nicolas; University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Irwin, Patrick; Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Jarchow, Christopher; Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Jaubert, Jean; Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, France
Jones, Hugh; University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
Julien, Queyrel; Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), Toulouse, France
Kameda, Shingo; Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan
Kerschbaum, Franz; Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, Onsala, Sweden
Kervella, Pierre; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Koskinen, Tommi; LPL, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
Krijger, Matthijs; SRON, Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Krupp, Norbert; Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Lafarga, Marina; Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Radioti, Aikaterini ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Réess, Jean-Michel; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Rezac, Ladislav; Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Rocchetto, Marco; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Rosich, Albert; Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Savini, Giorgio; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Scandariato, Gaetano; INAF - OACt, Catania, Italy
Sicardy, Bruno; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
Sierra, Carles; Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Sindoni, Giuseppe; INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy
Skup, Konrad; Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
Snellen, Ignas; University of Leiden, Leiden, the Netherlands
Sobiecki, Mateusz; Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
Soret, Lauriane ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Sozzetti, Alessandro; INAF - OATo, Torino, Italy
Stiepen, Arnaud ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Strugarek, Antoine; Centre Energie Atomique, Saclay, France
Taylor, Jake; Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Taylor, William; STFC UK-ATC, Edinburgh, UK
Terenzi, Luca; INAF - IASF, Bologna, Italy
Tessenyi, Marcell; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Tsiaras, Angelos; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Tucker, C.; Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Valencia, Diana; University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Vasisht, Gautam; NASA Jet-Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA
Vazan, Allona; University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Vilardell, Francesc; Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
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Viti, Serena; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
Waters, Rens; SRON, Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Wawer, Piotr; Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
Wawrzaszek, Anna; Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
Whitworth, Anthony; Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Yung, Yuk L.; Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA
Yurchenko, Sergey N.; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
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Zingales, Tiziano; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, London, UK
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