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SUMMARY:Direct detection and characterisation of extra-solar planets - Sas
 cha Quanz (ETH\, Zurich)
DTSTART:20160531T130000Z
DTEND:20160531T140000Z
UID:TALK66008@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Greg Willatt
DESCRIPTION:  Exoplanet research is a rapidly growing field in modern astr
 ophysics and today more than 5400 planets and planet candidates are known 
 outside our Solar System.  The overwhelming majority of theses objects wer
 e found by indirect observing techniques (the radial velocity (RV) method 
 and the transit method)\, where the existence of the planet is inferred fr
 om periodic changes in the light signal of the host star.  No photons comi
 ng from the planets themselves were recorded.  RV and transit observations
  are best suited for\, and biased towards\, the detection of planets orbit
 ing very close to the star.  In order to investigate longer-period planets
  and to get a more complete census of the exoplanet population\, other obs
 erving techniques are required.  Also\, RV and transit observations yield 
 basic orbital parameters of the planets and constrain their mass (RV) or s
 ize (transit)\, but to determine the physical and chemical properties of t
 he planets’ atmospheres (e.g. temperature\, molecular composition\, pote
 ntial habitability) detecting direct emission from the planets is crucial.
    In some cases primary transit/secondary eclipse measurement can be used
  to constrain properties of exoplanet atmospheres.  However\, these studie
 s are confined to short-period transiting planets and the vast majority of
  exoplanets do not transit in front of their host star.\n   In this talk I
  will discuss the current state of the field of the complementary ‘Direc
 t Imaging’ technique and show that it can address some of the questions 
 that cannot be tackled by RV or transit observations.  I will briefly disc
 uss the challenges that one faces when trying to detect the exoplanet’s 
 signal (image or spectrum) and that of its host star simultaneously\, but 
 spatially separated\, on the detector.  I will then describe how these cha
 llenges can – at least partially – overcome and summarise some key sci
 ence results from the last years.  Finally\, I will conclude with an outlo
 ok what we can expect from Direct Imaging in the future in particular in t
 he era of Extremely Large Telescopes.\n
LOCATION:Martin Ryle Seminar Room\, Kavli Institute
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