2007/06/07 by David Charbonneau, Drake Deming, Charbonneau, David +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Computer science #Dynamics (music) #Environmental science #Exoplanet #FOS: Physical sciences #Physics #Planet #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0706.1047
submitted to the Exoplanet Task Force (AAAC), 2 April 2007
arxiv created 2007/06/07 · openalex publication_date 2007/06/07 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
One of the great quests of astronomy is to obtain the spectrum of a terrestrial planet orbiting within the habitable zone of its star, and the dominant challenge in doing so is to isolate the light of the planet from that of the star. Dynamics-based methods separate these signals temporally, whereas imaging techniques do so spatially. In light of the overwhelming dominance of dynamics-based methods over the past decade, we challenge the notion that spectra of terrestrial planets necessarily require extreme imaging methods. We advocate that some resources be committed to refining the proven technologies of radial-velocity measurements, transit photometry, and occultation spectroscopy (i.e. emergent infrared spectra obtained at secondary eclipse). We see a particularly attractive opportunity in M-dwarfs, for which the habitable zone is close to the star, increasing the probability and frequency of transits, and the amplitude of the induced radial-velocity variation. Such planets could be discovered by a dedicated ground-based transit survey of the 10,000 nearest M-dwarfs. The favorable planet-star contrast ratio would make these planets ideal targets for the study of their atmospheres with the technique of occultation spectroscopy.