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SPECULOOS: five years hunting terrestrial planets around ultra-cool dwarfs
Zúñiga Fernández, Sebastián Gaspar; Gillon, Michaël; Pedersen, Peter P. et al.
2024In Proceedings of SPIE: The International Society for Optical Engineering
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Keywords :
Astrobiology; photometry; Planetary systems; Robotic Astronomy; Star: low-mass; transit search; Brown dwarfs; Cool stars; Dwarf stars; Planetary system; Robotic astronomy; Stars: dwarfs; Stars: low mass; Terrestrial planets; Transit search; Ultra cool dwarfs; Computer Science Applications; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; astro-ph.IM; astro-ph.EP
Abstract :
[en] The SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) project aims to detect temperate terrestrial planets transiting nearby ultracool dwarfs, including late M-dwarf stars and brown dwarfs, which are well-suited for atmospheric characterization using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and upcoming giant telescopes like the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Led by the University of Liège, SPECULOOS is conducted in partnership with the University of Cambridge, the University of Birmingham, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Bern, and ETH Zurich. The project operates a network of robotic telescopes at two main observatories: SPECULOOS-South in Chile, with four telescopes, and SPECULOOS-North in Tenerife, currently with one telescope (soon to be two). This network is complemented by the SAINT-EX telescope located in San Pedro Mártir, Mexico. In this paper, we review the status of our facilities after five years of operations, the current challenges and development plans, and our latest scientific results.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Engineering, computing & technology: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Zúñiga Fernández, Sebastián Gaspar  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Astrobiology
Gillon, Michaël  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO)
Pedersen, Peter P.;  Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, United Kingdom ; Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Sebastian, Daniel;  School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Burdanov, Artem;  Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
Demory, Brice-Olivier;  Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Triaud, Amaury H.M.J.;  School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
de Wit, Julien;  Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
Jehin, Emmanuel  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Unités de recherche interfacultaires > Space sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research (STAR)
Queloz, Didier;  Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, United Kingdom ; Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Garcia, Lionel J.;  Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, New York, United States
Timmermans, Mathilde  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Astrobiology
Barkaoui, Khalid  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Exoplanets in Transit: Identification and Characterization ; Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States ; Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), La Laguna, Spain
Baycroft, Thomas;  School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Davis, Yasmin;  School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Davoudi, Fatemeh  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Astrobiology
Delrez, Laetitia ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophysique, géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Exoplanets in Transit: Identification and Characterization
Ducrot, Elsa;  LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Meudon, France
Gómez Maqueo Chew, Yilen;  Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Hooton, Matthew J.;  Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Janó-Muñoz, Clàudia;  Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Rackham, Benjamin V.;  Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States ; Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
Scott, Madison;  School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Thompson, Samantha;  Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Yalçinkaya, Selçuk;  Astrobiology Research Unit, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium ; Ankara University, Astronomy and Space Sciences Research and Application Center (Kreiken Observatory), Ankara, Türkiye ; Department of Astronomy & Space Sciences, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye
More authors (15 more) Less
Language :
English
Title :
SPECULOOS: five years hunting terrestrial planets around ultra-cool dwarfs
Publication date :
2024
Event name :
SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024
Event place :
Yokohama, Japan
Event date :
16-06-2024 => 21-06-2024
Audience :
International
Journal title :
Proceedings of SPIE: The International Society for Optical Engineering
ISSN :
0277-786X
eISSN :
1996-756X
Publisher :
International Society for Optical Engineering, Bellingham, United States - Washington
Peer review/Selection committee :
Editorial Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
JNTO - Japan National Tourism Organization
NAOJ - National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
NICT - National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
SPIE - Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
Funding text :
The ULiege's contribution to SPECULOOS has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013; grant Agreement no. 336480/SPECULOOS), from the Balzan Prize and Francqui Foundations, from the Belgian Scientific Research Foundation (F.R.S.FNRS; grant no. T.0109.20), from the University of Li\u00E8ge, and from the ARC grant for Concerted Research Actions financed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The Cambridge contribution is supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (PI: Queloz, grant number 327127). The Birmingham contribution research is in part funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant's agreement no. 803193/BEBOP), from the MERAC foundation, and from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; grant no. ST/S00193X/1, and ST/W000385/1). J.d.W. and MIT gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Heising-Simons Foundation, Dr. and Mrs. Colin Masson and Dr. Peter A. Gilman for Artemis, the first telescope of the SPECULOOS network situated in Tenerife, Spain. The SPECULOOS North consortium would like to thank IAC telescope operators (T\u00E9cnico de Operaciones Telesc\u00F3picas), General and Instrumental maintenance teams for their support on site. TRAPPIST-South is funded by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) under the grant PDR T.0120.21. MG is FNRS Research Director. EJ is FNRS Senior Research Associate. This publication benefits from the support of the French Community of Belgium in the context of the FRIA Doctoral Grant awarded to M.T. The postdoctoral fellowship of KB is funded by F.R.S.-FNRS grant T.0109.20 and by the Francqui Foundation. ED acknowledges support from the innovation and research Horizon 2020 program in the context of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie subvention 945298. LD is an F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher.
Commentary :
18 pages, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2024
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