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Habitable Worlds Around M Dwarf Stars: The CAPSCam Astrometric Planet Search

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

Alan P. Boss ,
Alycia J. Weinberger ,
Guillem Anglada-Escudé ,
Ian B. Thompson  and
Rafael Brahm
Alan P. Boss
Affiliation:
DTM, Carnegie Institution, 5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W., Washington DC, 20015-1305, United States email: boss@dtm.ciw.edu
Alycia J. Weinberger
Affiliation:
DTM, Carnegie Institution, 5241 Broad Branch Road, N.W., Washington DC, 20015-1305, United States email: weinberger@dtm.ciw.edu
Guillem Anglada-Escudé
Affiliation:
The Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena CA, 91101, United States email: ian@obs.carnegiescience.edu
Ian B. Thompson
Affiliation:
Institut für Astrophysik, Universität Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen, Germany email: guillem.anglada@gmail.com
Rafael Brahm
Affiliation:
Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 782-0436 Macul, Santiago, Chile email: rabrahm@uc.cl
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Abstract

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M dwarf stars are attractive targets in the search for habitable worlds as a result of their relative abundance and proximity, making them likely targets for future direct detection efforts. Hot super-Earths as well as gas giants have already been detected around a number of early M dwarfs, and the former appear to be the high-mass end of the population of rocky, terrestrial exoplanets. The Carnegie Astrometric Planet Search (CAPS) program has been underway since March 2007, searching ~ 100 nearby late M, L, and T dwarfs for gas giant planets on orbits wide enough for habitable worlds to orbit interior to them. The CAPSCam-N camera on the 2.5-m du Pont telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory has demonstrated the ability to detect planets as low in mass as Saturn orbiting at several AU around late M dwarfs within 15 pc. Over the next decade, the CAPS program will provide new constraints on the planetary census around late M dwarf stars, and hence on the suitability of these nearby planetary systems for supporting life.

Keywords

astrometryplanetary systemsplanetary systems: formationstars: low-massbrown dwarfs
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 8 , Symposium S293: Formation, Detection, and Characterization of Extrasolar Habitable Planets , August 2012 , pp. 183 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2014 

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