Observability of Exo-Atmospheres in emission using Ariel

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bocchieri ◽  
Enzo Pascale ◽  
Lorenzo Mugnai ◽  
Quentin Changeat ◽  
Giovanna Tinetti
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Spectroscopic Observation ◽  
Space Mission ◽  
Tier 2 ◽  
Low Snr ◽  
Cosmic Vision ◽  
Atmospheric Remote Sensing ◽  
Statistical Sample ◽  
In Transit ◽  
Large Survey

<p>Ariel, the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, is a medium-class space mission part of ESA's Cosmic Vision program, due for launch in 2029. Ariel is the first mission dedicated to the spectroscopic observation of a diverse, statistical sample of about 1000 transiting exoplanets, obtaining spectra in transit, eclipse, or both, to answer questions about their composition, formation and evolution. Ariel has adopted a four-tiered approach in which all targets are observed with different SNRs to optimise the science return from the mission. Ariel has two separate instruments (FGS and AIRS) that will perform simultaneous observations across the 0.5-7.8 micron spectral range, which encompasses both the peak emission of exoplanets and the spectral signatures of key molecules. This will enable Ariel to collect statistical information on the composition and the thermal structure of exo-atmospheres, allowing it to reveal underlying trends in exoplanetary populations. In particular, transit spectroscopy is expected to provide the bulk of information on the chemical composition of exo-atmospheres, while eclipses are necessary to constrain their thermodynamic state. In this framework, I report a preliminary study of Ariel targets observed in emission: at first, I investigate the information content from Tier 1 data, where spectra from the full population of Ariel targets are observed with low SNR, and binned as if Ariel were a multi-band photometer to increase the SNR. I then investigate the effectiveness of Ariel in detecting chemical-physical trends in exoplanetary populations observed in Tier 2, designed to reach SNR in excess of 7 on spectra binned to roughly half the spectral resolution of the focal planes, as specified by the mission requirements.</p>

scholarly journals ArielRad: the Ariel radiometric model

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 303-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo V. Mugnai ◽  
Enzo Pascale ◽  
Billy Edwards ◽  
Andreas Papageorgiou ◽  
Subhajit Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
Space Mission ◽  
Noise Model ◽  
Stationary Processes ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Photon Statistic ◽  
Cosmic Vision ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Atmospheric Remote Sensing ◽  
Large Survey ◽  
Primary Mission

Abstract ArielRad, the Ariel radiometric model, is a simulator developed to address the challenges in optimising the space mission science payload and to demonstrate its compliance with the performance requirements. Ariel, the Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, has been selected by ESA as the M4 mission in the Cosmic Vision programme and, during its 4 years primary operation, will provide the first unbiased spectroscopic survey of a large and diverse sample of transiting exoplanet atmospheres. To allow for an accurate study of the mission, ArielRad uses a physically motivated noise model to estimate contributions arising from stationary processes, and includes margins for correlated and time-dependent noise sources. We show that the measurement uncertainties are dominated by the photon statistic, and that an observing programme with about 1000 exoplanetary targets can be completed during the primary mission lifetime.

Ariel - The ESA M4 Space Mission to Focus on the Nature Of Exoplanets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Lueftinger ◽  
Giovanna Tinetti ◽  
Paul Ecclestone ◽  
Jean-Christophe Salvignol ◽  
Salma Fahmy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Space Mission ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Additional Contribution ◽  
Vision Science ◽  
Cosmic Vision ◽  
Atmospheric Remote Sensing ◽  
Habitable Zones ◽  
Exoplanetary Atmospheres ◽  
Large Survey

<p>Ariel, the atmospheric remote-sensing infrared exoplanet large-survey, is the recently adopted M4 mission within the Cosmic Vision science programme of ESA. The goal of Ariel is to investigate the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars in order to address the fundamental questions on how planetary systems form and evolve and to investigate in unprecedented detail the composition of a large number of exoplanetary atmospheres. During its 4-year mission, Ariel will observe hundreds of exoplanets ranging from Jupiter- and Neptune-size down to super-Earth size, in a wide variety of environments, in the visible and the infrared. The main focus of the mission will be on warm and hot planets in orbits close to their star. Some of the planets may be in the habitable zones of their stars, however. The analysis of Ariel spectra and photometric data will allow to extract the chemical fingerprints of gases and condensates in the planets’ atmospheres, including the elemental composition for the most favourable targets. The Ariel mission has been developed by a consortium of more than 60 institutes from 15 ESA member state countries, including UK, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, with an additional contribution from NASA. In this talk, we will review the science goals of the mission and give insight into the current status, both from the ESA and the Ariel Mission Consortium point of view.  </p>

PAOS, the Physical Optics Propagation model of the Ariel optical system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bocchieri ◽  
Enzo Pascale
Keyword(s):  
Extrasolar Planets ◽  
Optical Design ◽  
Maximum Amplitude ◽  
Space Mission ◽  
Propagation Model ◽  
Optical Systems ◽  
Physical Optics ◽  
Cosmic Vision ◽  
Atmospheric Remote Sensing ◽  
Cassegrain Telescope

<p>Ariel, the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, is a medium-class space mission part of ESA's Cosmic Vision programme, due for launch in 2029. Ariel will survey a diverse sample of about 1000 extrasolar planets in the visible and infrared spectrum to answer questions about their composition, formation and evolution. Ariel mounts an off-axis Cassegrain telescope with a 1100 mm x 730 mm elliptical mirror and has two separate instruments (FGS and AIRS) that cover the 0.5-7.8 micron spectral range. To study the Ariel optical performance and related systematics, we developed PAOS, the Proper Ariel Optical Simulator, an End-to-End physical optics propagation model of the Ariel Telescope and subsystems based on PROPER, an optical propagation library for IDL, Python and Matlab. PAOS is a Python code that consists of a series of calls to PROPER library functions and procedures that reproduces the Ariel optical design, interleaved with additional code that can be specified according to the simulation. Using PAOS, we can investigate how diffraction affects the electromagnetic wavefront as it travels through the Ariel optical systems and the resulting PSFs in the photometric and spectroscopic channels of the mission. This enables to perform a large number of detailed analyses, both on the instrument side and on the optimisation of the Ariel mission. In particular, PAOS can be used to support the requirement on the maximum amplitude of the aberrations for the manufacturing of the Ariel primary mirror, as well as to develop strategies for in-flight calibration, e.g. focussing procedures for the FGS and AIRS focal planes, and to tackle systematics such as pointing jitter and vignetting. With the Ariel mission now in the process of finalizing the instrument design and the data analysis techniques, PAOS will greatly contribute in evaluating the Ariel payload performance with models to be included in the existing Ariel simulators such as ArielRad, the Ariel Radiometric model, and ExoSim, the Exoplanet Observation simulator, for the purpose of studying and optimising the science return from Ariel.</p>

The Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanets Large-survey (ARIEL) payload electronic subsystems

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Focardi ◽  
E. Pace ◽  
J. Colomé ◽  
I. Ribas ◽  
M. Rataj ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Atmospheric Remote Sensing ◽  
Large Survey

scholarly journals Atmospheric Characterization via Broadband Color Filters on the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) Mission

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lee Grenfell ◽  
Mareike Godolt ◽  
Juan Cabrera ◽  
Ludmila Carone ◽  
Antonio Garcia Munoz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Space Mission ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Phase Curve ◽  
Wavelength Interval ◽  
Hot Jupiters ◽  
The Difference ◽  
In Transit ◽  
Color Filters ◽  
Planetary Transits

<p>We assess broadband color filters for the two fast cameras on the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations (PLATO) of stars space mission with respect to exoplanetary atmospheric characterization. We focus on Ultra Hot Jupiters and Hot Jupiters placed 25pc and 100pc away from the Earth and warm Super-Earths placed 10pc and 25pc away. Our analysis takes as input literature values for the difference in transit depth between the broadband lower (500-675nm) wavelength interval (hereafter referred to as ”blue“) and the upper (675-1125nm) broadband wavelength interval (hereafter referred to as ”red“) for transmission, occultation and phase curve analyses. Planets orbiting main sequence central stars with stellar classes F, G, K and M are investigated. We calculate the signal-to-noise ratio with respect to photon and instrument noise for detecting the difference in transit depth between the two spectral intervals. Results suggest that bulk atmospheric composition and planetary geometric albedos could be detected for (Ultra) Hot Jupiters up to ~100pc (~25pc) with strong (moderate) Rayleigh extinction. Phase curve information could be extracted for Ultra Hot Jupiters orbiting K and G dwarf stars up to 25pc away. For warm Super-Earths, basic atmospheric types (primary and water-dominated) and the presence of sub-micron hazes in the upper atmosphere could be distinguished for up to a handful of cases up to ~10pc (manuscript accepted in Experimental Astronomy).</p>

scholarly journals The PLATO space mission: studying planetary transits and stellar oscillations simultaneously

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S253) ◽  
pp. 564-566
Author(s):  
Malcolm Fridlund
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Space Mission ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Stellar Oscillations ◽  
Cosmic Vision ◽  
Exoplanetary Systems ◽  
Seismic Oscillations ◽  
Host Stars ◽  
Very High ◽  
Planetary Transits

AbstractPLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscilliations of stars) is a proposed mission of the European Space Agency's Science programme Cosmic Vision 2015–2025, currently under industrial study, and with a planned launch by the end of 2017. Its task is to better understand the properties of exoplanetary systems. As such it will detect and characterise exoplanets using their transit signature in front of a large sample of bright stars and simultaneously measuring the seismic oscillations of the parent star of these exoplanets. The mission will be orbiting the Sun-Earth L2 point, which provides a stable thermal environment and maximum uninterrupted observing efficiency. The payload consists of a number (> 28) of individual catadioptric telescopes, covering > 550 sq. degrees. Since the goal is to search for terrestrial exoplanets within the habitable zone of their host stars, and carry out asteroseismological observations of the host stars, very high photometric precision, high time resolution, and high duty-cycle visible photometry is required. Ground-based observations are needed to complement the observations made by PLATO to allow for further exoplanetary characterization. This paper consists of a summary of the preliminary results achieved by the ESA internal pre-assessment study.

Citizen Scientist Participation in Transiting Exoplanet Science

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Salisbury
Keyword(s):  
Target List ◽  
Citizen Scientist ◽  
Hot Jupiters ◽  
Precise Knowledge ◽  
Atmospheric Remote Sensing ◽  
Photometric Observations ◽  
Initial Discovery ◽  
Exoplanet Systems ◽  
Large Survey ◽  
Globally Distributed

<p>Since the discovery of the first transiting Exoplanet in 1999, shortly after the initial discovery by the radial velocity method,  over 3189 such systems have been discovered.  As a result in recent years the field has started to transition from a discovery phase to one of characterisation and understanding more about the planets discovered.  Ground based surveys with very small telescopes have been extremely successful discovery machines but the majority of known transiting exoplanets were discovered by the space borne Kepler and K2 missions, a legacy that is continuing with the NASA TESS mission.  Consequently the field of transiting exoplanet science is now a target rich environment, which combined with the relative scarcity and competition for professional telescope time, provides an ideal opportunity for participation by citizen scientists.  In this context a citizen scientist is a person or group with access to, and the knowledge to use, the equipment required to make precise photometric observations, whether this is their own telescope or through the use of shared , educational or commercial facilities.</p> <p>Exoplanet science is a field that excites and captures the imagination of both the general public, amateur astronomers and students alike.  Arguably the most successful project supporting citizen scientist participation has been the Exoplanet Transit Database (ETD) run by the Czech Astronomical Society since 2009 the database has accumulated over 10,000 lightcurves of 350+ exoplanet systems, contributed mostly by an army of nearly 1200 globally distributed amateur observers.  Although originally created as a way to search for transit timing variations, the wealth of data gathered has been used by professional astronomers including searches for orbital period decay or apsidal precession in transiting hot Jupiters.  The network of observers has also resulted in a number of pro-am collaborations producing exciting results such as the discovery of TrEs-5c.</p> <p>One of the key missions planned for this decade to help characterise transiting exoplanet atmospheres is the ESA medium class mission ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey satellite), scheduled for launch sometime in 2028.  This ambitious transit spectroscopy mission aims to measure the spectra of over 1000 transiting exoplanet atmospheres to better understand their chemical composition, their formation and evolutionary histories and the links between the planets and their stellar environment.  To help achieve this, precise knowledge of all 1000+ planet ephemerides is required to optimise the science return from the 4-year mission.  The Exoclock project is an initiative run by the ARIEL Ephemerides Working Group to focus and coordinate both professional and citizen scientist observations of exoplanet transit light curves to measure transit mid-times and to monitor the stellar variability of the host stars for all the systems on the ARIEL target list.  To this end the Exoclock team have created a suite of tools, guides and educational material to help widen participation, target those systems most in need of observations and provide homogenous results to allow accurate scheduling of ARIEL observations.  ARIEL is by no means the only space science mission eliciting support from the citizen scientist and amateur astronomy community with projects also being run for the follow up of TESS observations and the PLATO amateur collaboration project.</p> <p>In this presentation I will review the growing need for citizen scientists to support flagship exoplanet science missions and look at results of some successful pro-am collaborations highlighting the contribution made by citizen scientists.  Using results obtained from multiple ~0.4m telescopes I will look at opportunities for maximising the science return from the observations obtained.</p>

scholarly journals CHARACTERIZING EXOPLANETS IN THE VISIBLE AND INFRARED: A SPECTROMETER CONCEPT FOR THE EChO SPACE MISSION

2013 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350004 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. GLAUSER ◽  
R. VAN BOEKEL ◽  
O. KRAUSE ◽  
TH. HENNING ◽  
B. BENNEKE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extrasolar Planets ◽  
Space Mission ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Technical Challenge ◽  
Cosmic Vision ◽  
Assessment Study ◽  
Observational Techniques ◽  
Science Instrument

Transit-spectroscopy of exoplanets is one of the key observational techniques used to characterize extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. The observational challenges of these measurements require dedicated instrumentation and only the space environment allows undisturbed access to earth-like atmospheric features such as water or carbon dioxide. Therefore, several exoplanet-specific space missions are currently being studied. One of them is EChO, the Exoplanet Characterization Observatory, which is part of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 program, and which is one of four candidates for the M3 launch slot in 2024. In this paper we present the results of our assessment study of the EChO spectrometer, the only science instrument onboard this spacecraft. The instrument is a multi-channel all-reflective dispersive spectrometer, covering the wavelength range from 400 nm to 16μm simultaneously with a moderately low spectral resolution. We illustrate how the key technical challenge of the EChO mission — the high photometric stability — influences the choice of spectrometer concept and fundamentally drives the instrument design. First performance evaluations underline the suitability of the elaborated design solution for the needs of the EChO mission.

The science of ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Tinetti ◽  
P. Drossart ◽  
P. Eccleston ◽  
P. Hartogh ◽  
A. Heske ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Atmospheric Remote Sensing ◽  
Large Survey

scholarly journals HD 219666 b: a hot-Neptune from TESS Sector 1

2019 ◽  
Vol 623 ◽  
pp. A165 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Esposito ◽  
D. J. Armstrong ◽  
D. Gandolfi ◽  
V. Adibekyan ◽  
M. Fridlund ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radial Velocity ◽  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Formation Mechanisms ◽  
Mass Determination ◽  
Velocity Measurements ◽  
Fundamental Parameters ◽  
Refractory Elements ◽  
Rare Class ◽  
In Transit

We report on the confirmation and mass determination of a transiting planet orbiting the old and inactive G7 dwarf star HD 219666 (M⋆ = 0.92 ± 0.03 M⊙, R⋆ = 1.03 ± 0.03 R⊙, τ⋆ = 10 ± 2 Gyr). With a mass of Mb = 16.6 ± 1.3 M⊕, a radius of Rb = 4.71 ± 0.17 R⊕, and an orbital period of Porb ≃ 6 days, HD 219666 b is a new member of a rare class of exoplanets: the hot-Neptunes. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observed HD 219666 (also known as TOI-118) in its Sector 1 and the light curve shows four transit-like events, equally spaced in time. We confirmed the planetary nature of the candidate by gathering precise radial-velocity measurements with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at ESO 3.6 m. We used the co-added HARPS spectrum to derive the host star fundamental parameters (Teff = 5527 ± 65 K, log g⋆ = 4.40 ± 0.11 (cgs), [Fe/H]= 0.04 ± 0.04 dex, log R′HK = −5.07 ± 0.03), as well as the abundances of many volatile and refractory elements. The host star brightness (V = 9.9) makes it suitable for further characterisation by means of in-transit spectroscopy. The determination of the planet orbital obliquity, along with the atmosphericmetal-to-hydrogen content and thermal structure could provide us with important clues on the formation mechanisms of this class of objects.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document