[Astronomy seminar] Astronomy seminar Friday 13/9 10:30 FC61: Carina Persson

[Astronomy seminar announcements]

Astronomy seminar

Time & location: Friday September 13, 10:30 in FC61

Speaker: Carina Persson (Chalmers)

Title: Exoplanet discovery and characterisation

Abstract:
Observations during the last decade have uncovered large populations of 
exoplanets without any counterparts in our own planetary system. This 
diversity has been one of the major discoveries. One of the most 
powerful tools in the hunt for new exoplanets is dedicated space mission 
surveys using the technique of ultra-high precision transit photometry. 
This allows not only discoveries of new planets, but also measurements 
of the radius relative to the host star and orbital parameters. By 
combining the photometry from space missions with ground-based radial 
velocity measurements, true planet masses and bulk densities can be 
obtained. But although more than 4000 exoplanets have been detected to 
date, mainly by the Kepler space telescope, far fewer have been fully 
characterised and hence the composition and internal structure for most 
exoplanets are unknown. Only a few tens of Super-Earths have been 
securely identified. This paucity is related to the faintness of the 
target stars and a new generation of spacecrafts is therefore 
specifically targeting bright stars. NASA's TESS spacecraft, launched in 
April 2018, is an all sky survey mission of short period planets 
orbiting bright stars which will enable precise follow-up observations. 
CHEOPS (Characterising Exoplanet Satellite), to be launched 17 Dec 2019, 
is a European mission equipped with ultra-high precision photometers. 
The targets will be bright stars already known to host exoplanets and 
will be observed individually. The European PLATO mission with a launch 
in 2026 is a next-generation planet-hunter with an emphasis on rocky 
planets in the habitable zone around solar-type stars. In this talk, I 
will give an overview of our work at Chalmers and the collaboration with 
the international KESPRINT consortium.

Other upcoming activites:

18/9 (Wed) @ 10:00: PhD Defence Emanuel Gafton in FA31
20/9 (Fri) @ 10:30: [CANCELLED: John Miller (Oxford)]
23/9 (Mon) @ 13:00: PhD Defence Anders Nyholm in FB42
27/9 (Fri) @ 10:30: Katja Poppenhaeger (Potsdam)
4/10 (Fri) @ 10:30: Tim Dietrich (Amsterdam)

All welcome! Alexis Brandeker (Astronomy seminar organiser 2019)

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