[Astronomy seminar] Astronomy seminar Friday 22/2, 10:30 FC61: Rubén Asensio Torres

[Astronomy seminar announcements]

Time & location: Friday 22/2, 10:30 in FC61

Speaker: Rubén, Asensio Torres (SU)

Title: High-contrast imaging of low-mass companions

Abstract:
The search for exoplanets, i.e., planets orbiting other stars than the 
Sun, is a relatively new research field, but has already established 
itself as one of the most prolific and intriguing areas of astronomy. By 
now we are in a situation where the focus is not only on finding 
companions to stars, but also on characterising their atmospheres and 
physical properties, which overall allows us to put our Solar System 
into context. In this seminar I will provide an introduction to the 
basis of the direct imaging technique, and discuss how it can be used to 
find and characterise low-mass companions. In particular, I will present 
the first direct imaging survey aimed at discovering circumbinary 
planets (SPOTS: Search for Planets Orbiting Two Stars), which includes 
the observations of 62 targets with VLT/NaCo and VLT/SPHERE, and a 
statistical analysis on the findings. These results put constraints on 
the population of giant planets and brown dwarfs on wide orbits. 
Moreover, I will present a second project where the new SCExAO/CHARIS 
integral field spectrograph is used to constrain the physical properties 
of a young stellar triple system via low-resolution spectroscopy. The 
observational data seem to point to a model age-mass discrepancy for 
young systems.

All welcome!
     Alexis Brandeker (Astronomy seminar organiser VT 2019)