Interesting extrasolar planet discoveries

[StupendousMan]

You can make your own list of all the stars closer than 3.6 pc using this interface to the Wooley catalog,

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bi...OAn....5....1W

Go to this site:

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/db-perl...n=More+Options

and type "> 250" into the "Parallax" box, then click on "Search". That will give you a list of all the stars with
a parallax greater than 250 milliarcseconds, which means a distance less than 4 parsecs. This particular
catalog contains 33 such stars.

How many have been searched for planets? I'm afraid you'll have to do quite a bit of work to find out.
There are many different searches, some using transits, some using radial velocity. I don't know of
a single source which gathers together the information on the stars in each search, so you'd
have to go to the technical papers for each search and figure out which of these 33 stars fall
into the search area and satisfy all the necessary parameters.

Good luck.

[Kullat Nunu]

Very interesting. Didn't know there was an annual meeting which included new announcements on exoplanet findings.

Well, AAS meetings cover all kinds of astronomy. There are also extrasolar planet specific meetings which often publish very interesting findings.

There was a time when i was trying to keep up with all the new exoplanets we found, but I soon found there was no chance of keeping up with them.

I suggest you follow the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia (or its RSS feed) or this forum.

[Kullat Nunu]

Have all stars in between sol and eps Eridani been investigated for planets?

There are a few systems closer to us than Epsilon Eridani:

• Alpha Centauri & Proxima Centauri: Alpha Cen B is a good target (quiet class K star) which is being followed actively. Alpha Cen A and Proxima Cen of course could have planets, but so far nothing.
• Barnard's Star: Famous for the false detections in '60s. I'm pretty sure it is closely investigated, and being a red dwarf, according to current knowledge likely has closely orbiting super-Earths or Earths that escape current detection limit.
• Wolf 359: another red dwarf
• Lalande 21185: red dwarf with false detections
• Sirius: far too bright and as a class A star a difficult target for the RV method
• BL Ceti & UV Ceti: pair of red dwarfs
• Ross 154: another red dwarf
• Ross 248: yet another red dwarf

If the estimated rate of 41% holds in the immediate solar neighborhood, ~3 of the red dwarfs listed should have super-Earths within their habitable zones.

[Drunk Vegan]

Have all stars in between sol and eps Eridani been investigated for planets? If yes, what does the statistics say about this? Many of the stars in between that have no planets or simply not within our inclination view (talking statistically)?

Hope you understand my point

I'd say it's a fair bet that most or all of the stars in a 10 lightyear radius have been looked at at least once by a radial velocity survey (which doesn't require the planet to be inclined just right as does the transit method).

But that's far from saying we've ruled out planets within 10 lyr.. we can't even say for sure yet that our closest neighbor(s) in the Alpha Centauri system don't have planets. They have been able to rule out gas giants around Alpha Cent A and B through observations though.

The exciting thing is that according to the information we have now the models suggest something like an 80% chance of a terrestrial-sized planet around Alpha Centauri (B?).

[Kullat Nunu]

Kepler-38(AB)b is yet another circumbinary planet. It orbits a somewhat evolved solar-mass star and a red dwarf. The planet is Neptune-sized but its mass has not yet been determined.

KOI 961 is now Kepler-42.

[Kullat Nunu]

The exciting thing is that according to the information we have now the models suggest something like an 80% chance of a terrestrial-sized planet around Alpha Centauri (B?).

Even more exciting is that with a dedicated RV study that planet could be found (in the HZ!)

[whimsyfree]

The exciting thing is that according to the information we have now the models suggest something like an 80% chance of a terrestrial-sized planet around Alpha Centauri (B?).

Really? You seem a little vague about the details. Where did you get this from?

Kepler-38(AB)b is yet another circumbinary planet. It orbits a somewhat evolved solar-mass star and a red dwarf. The planet is Neptune-sized but its mass has not yet been determined.

It's not in the list published on the web. What are the orbits? Previous circumbinary orbits have had radii about three times the apastron of the binary.

[Kullat Nunu]

Kepler-36b and c, a pair of planets which orbit closer to each other than any other known planet. Planet Kepler-36b is a rocky hot super-Earth whereas Kepler-36c is a gaseous hot Neptune.

On their closest approach, the neighboring duo comes within about 1.2 million miles of each other.

As seen from planet b, the planet c is huge, over 5x the apparent size of Moon!

[whimsyfree]

Kepler-36b and c, a pair of planets which orbit closer to each other than any other known planet. Planet Kepler-36b is a rocky hot super-Earth whereas Kepler-36c is a gaseous hot Neptune.

Discovery paper and one exploring the orbital dynamics. The latter are chaotic and involve a 29:34 resonance.

[Drunk Vegan]

The exciting thing is that according to the information we have now the models suggest something like an 80% chance of a terrestrial-sized planet around Alpha Centauri (B?).

Really? You seem a little vague about the details. Where did you get this from?

I'm a bit sketchy on the details because it's been a couple years since I saw the article or paper. I know it was around 80% probability of a terrestrial, and it was around either Alpha Cent A or B, (I think B) but didn't mention Proxima Centauri.

I think it was on axriv.org or on here that I saw it.. I'll see if I can dig it up when I get a chance. Didn't find it on a quick search of Universe Today.

[willstaruss22]

I think they should have a water and methane habitable zone

[whimsyfree]

The KOIs have been reanalysed using the CoRoT pipeline resulting in some interesting new finds, including two small HZ candidates, KOI 719 (1.29 R_E) and KOI 1574 (2.05 R_E). Their definition of habitable zone seems a bit funny though: 273 < T_eq < 373. Isn't Earths T_eq about 255K?

[ctcoker]

No, it's round about 290 K (although the top of the atmosphere is actually ~900 K). It would be 255 K if the atmosphere didn't exist. Their definition of habitable zone probably includes the effects of an Earth-like atmosphere (and if it doesn't, it should).

[whimsyfree]

No, it's round about 290 K (although the top of the atmosphere is actually ~900 K). It would be 255 K if the atmosphere didn't exist. Their definition of habitable zone probably includes the effects of an Earth-like atmosphere (and if it doesn't, it should).

They don't specify, which makes me think they are using the BB equilibrium temperature. This isn't appropriate, but is probably useful because it moves the HZ way inwards where they are much more likely to find planets.

[Kullat Nunu]

Two hot Jupiters in the Beehive cluster.

[Romanus]

^
That's really neat. They've been looking for open cluster planets for a long time; imagine what the view inside the Pleiades looks like now...

[Sporally]

I suggest you follow the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia (or its RSS feed) or this forum.

I haven't used a RSS-feeder for Exoplanets, but I'll add that to all the other RSS-feeds I already have running. Anyways, the problem is my memory is like the worst ever, so even remembering what I read could easily become a problem

The exciting thing is that according to the information we have now the models suggest something like an 80% chance of a terrestrial-sized planet around Alpha Centauri (B?).

Very, very interesting indeed! Will definately be keeping an eye on this one. Any news on the question about Proxima Centauri being in orbit around Alpha Centauri A+B? I find it strange it can take so long to determain the speed or change of orbit for that object. Once one of these two things have been determained we will know whether or not it will be orbiting the Alpha Centauri-system.

[Doodler]

I suggest you follow the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia (or its RSS feed) or this forum.

Guess my age is getting to me. Do you happen to know where I can get to the RSS link for EPE? I didn't see one on their site.

[galacsi]

Even more exciting is that with a dedicated RV study that planet could be found (in the HZ!)

Hi

What do you mean by RV ? Recreational vehicule ? Remote viewing ?

[IsaacKuo]

What do you mean by RV ? Recreational vehicule ? Remote viewing ?

Radial velocity method of exoplanet detection. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_spectroscopy

[Kullat Nunu]

Guess my age is getting to me. Do you happen to know where I can get to the RSS link for EPE? I didn't see one on their site.

Well, if I remember correctly, in Google Reader just put the website address (http://exoplanet.eu).

For some reason, no new planets have been added to the catalog since the update... Even though there are several interesting ones.

[Kullat Nunu]

Any news on the question about Proxima Centauri being in orbit around Alpha Centauri A+B? I find it strange it can take so long to determain the speed or change of orbit for that object. Once one of these two things have been determained we will know whether or not it will be orbiting the Alpha Centauri-system.

Well, considering the orbital period could be millions of years, not being able to determine the orbital period is not so strange. I could also imagine the orbit is not very stable (i.e. neighboring stars and the galaxy could perturb it heavily).

[Kullat Nunu]

Spitzer detects two possible sub-Earths around GJ 436.

If confirmed, these worlds would be the first terrestrial planets within 100 ly (the star in question is much closer at 30 ly, basically a neighbor).

The discoverers are careful not to call them confirmed planets yet, so they remain planet candidates for now.

[Doodler]

Spitzer detects two possible sub-Earths around GJ 436.

If confirmed, these worlds would be the first terrestrial planets within 100 ly (the star in question is much closer at 30 ly, basically a neighbor).

The discoverers are careful not to call them confirmed planets yet, so they remain planet candidates for now.

I saw this one the other day. The larger of the two is on the verge of being confirmed, the second one basically amounts to a "what the heck was that?" hiccup in the data that hints at a possible second. Either way, the resolution of this detection is very impressive.

[sol_g2v]

No posts in months? There was certainly an interesting extrasolar planet discovery recently regarding Alpha Centauri.

Never mind, missed the Wunderland reference.

[swampyankee]

There seems to be a planet around Alpha Centauri B: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...ture11572.html

It is, of course, a bit close to Alpha Cen B, with a period of about 3.2 days. Not a good vacation spot.

[Kullat Nunu]

There are, but no time to post (for example, more HATNet and SuperWASP planets, planet in a four-star system, confirmation of the ultra-packed KOI-500 system).

[Kullat Nunu]

Also noteworthy is the depressing fact that according to the PI Kepler has found ZERO Earth analogues, suggesting none will be detected even during the extended mission. The instrumental and stellar jitter is just too much (or the planets simply do not exist).

[Kullat Nunu]

By ultra-packed I mean the whole KOI-500 system can comfortably fit inside the orbit of the innermost planet in the Kepler-11 system!

[Kullat Nunu]

OGLE-2012-BLG-0026Lb, c, the second two-planet system detected by the microlensing method. Comfortably normal looking two-Jovian planet system.