Lecture 10: Extrasolar planets

Further reading

• The most complete list of extrasolar planets is at "The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia" http://exoplanet.eu/, but it's just a giant list of planets, with not much by way of readable information.
• NASA now has a site called "PlanetQuest: Exoplanet exploration" at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/, which has a host of useful information, including a page to search the catalogue of exoplanets in various ways
• The California and Carnegie Planet Search, http://exoplanets.org/ has lots of useful things, including nice tools to plot the data
• space.com has a list of "The Strangest Alien Planets" at http://www.space.com/159-strangest-alien-planets.html
• The Kepler website is at http://kepler.nasa.gov: they have loads of good pictures and animations, as well as a live counter telling you how many planets they've found!
• The Citizen Science project Planet Hunters is at http://www.planethunters.org; you can help identify transits and find new planet candidates. The site is part of the zooniverse project, which has many participatory projects, from identifying galaxies, to exploring features on the Moon, and identifying potential Kuiper Belt targets for New Horizons.
• NASA maintains an "Upcoming Planetary Launches and Events" page at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/upcoming.html

Source for images

• Background image: Artist's conception of Sedna, from Spitzer Press Release 15 March 2004, http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2004-05/index.shtml
• Light house and firefly: from PlanetQuest "Search for another Earth" powerpoint presentation http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/frequentImages.cfm
• Astrometric displacement due to Jupiter: Planet Quest: Science - Finding planets http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/science/finding_planets.cfm
• Iodine cell: from The Anglo-Australian Planet Search, http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/cgt/planet/aat.html
• Example spectrum through iodine cell: from TLS Tautenburg: Coudé Echelle Spectrograph, http://www.tls-tautenburg.de/coude/echelle_spectrograph.html
• Echelle spectrum: from "The Lowest Mass Exoplanet: 6 - 8 Earth-Masses" http://exoplanets.org/gl876_web/gl876_graphics.html
• 51 Pegasi figures: from Niel Brandt, Astro 1, http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/astro1/slideshows/class44/slides-44.html
• 47 Ursa Majoris: artist's impression by John Whatmough, from Astronomy Picture of the Day 1997 October 5, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971005.html; 70 Virginis, image by Walter Myers, http://www.arcadiastreet.com/cgvistas/exo_020.htm
• Orbit geometry: from "The Search for and Discovery of Extra-Solar Planets" by Richard Larson, http://www.astro.washington.edu/larson/Astro150b/Lectures/ExtraSolarPlanets/xsp.html
• Transit graph: from Kepler animations http://kepler.nasa.gov/multimedia/animations/?ImageID=38
• Venus transit: photo by David Cortner, from Astronomy Picture of the Day 2004 June 23, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040623.html
• Transit light curve: from "Planets orbiting around other stars" by Michael Richmond, http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys230/lectures/planets/planets.html
• Mass distribution: from California and Carnegie Planet Search, http://exoplanets.org/figures.html
• Semi-major axis distribution: from California and Carnegie Planet Search, http://exoplanets.org/semimajor_axes.html
• Eccentricities: from Extra-Solar Planet Data Trends, http://home.cwru.edu/~sjr16/advanced/esol_trends.html
• Upsilon Andromedae: artist's impression by Lynette Cook, from Astronomy Picture of the Day, 16 April 1999, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990416.html; orbital diagram, from http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/hotimage/upsAnd_hotimage.html
• Exoplanet systems: from California and Carnegie Planet Search, http://exoplanets.org/multi_chart_big.jpg
• 55 Cancri: from Planet Quest http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/ssu_images.cfm
• Bode's Law for 55 Cancri: http://www.bautforum.com/against-mainstream/67011-bodes-law-extrasolar-planets.html
• Spacings for other systems: from Lovis et al. 2011, "The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XXVIII", A&A 528, A112 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011A%26A...528A.112L
• HARPS planets: from Mayor et al. 2011, "Exoplanets: the quest for Earth twins", Phil. Trans R. Soc. A 369, 572 http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1936/572.abstract
• All Kepler images are from http://kepler.nasa.gov
• HAT-P-7b light curve: from Borucki et al, 2009, "Kepler's Optical Phase Curve of the Exoplanet HAT-P-7b", http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009Sci...325..709B; animation from http://kepler.nasa.gov/multimedia/animations/
• Kepler results: from powerpoint presentation by Bill Borucki http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/nasakeplernews/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=98
• Spiral accretion streams: from http://www.pd.infn.it/~mbarbier/research/esp/
• Planetary migration movie: from Pawel Artymowicz: Planetary systems and their changing theories, http://planets.utsc.utoronto.ca/~pawel/planets/movies.html
• Resonance table: from "Planetary Harmony" by Robert Naeye, Australian S&T January 2005
• Upsilon Andromedae orbits: from http://exobio.chez.tiscali.fr/newsavril99.htm. Simulation: from Planet-Planet Scattering in Upsilon Andromedae, http://www.astro.northwestern.edu/rasio/UpsAndPR/
• Atmosphere around HD 209458: from Hubble Site News Release, November 27 2001, http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2001/38/. Sodium absorption: from space.com, First Detection Made of an Extrasolar Planet's Atmosphere, http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/extrasolar_atmosphere_011127-1.html
• Migrating-planet simulations: from Raymond, Mandell and Sigurdsson 2006, Science 131 141
• X-ray flares from Orion: Chandra press release, 10 May 2005, http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/05_releases/press_051005.html
• Habitable zone: from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanets
• Intelligent life: from Niel Brandt http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/astro1/slideshows/class44/slides-44.html
• Gliese 581c: from Le Figaro Magazine, 9 Jun 2007, "Exoplanète : Gliese 581C ressemble à notre Terre", paintings by Olivier de Goursac, http://www.lefigaro.fr/magazine/20070608.MAG000000328_gliese_c_ressemble_tant_notre_terre.html
• Gliese 581 habitable zone: from ESO Press Release 15/09: Lightest exoplanet yet discovered http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2009/pr-15-09.html
• HD209458b: from The extrasolar planet HD 209458 b http://www2.iap.fr/exoplanetes/images_hd209458_en.html
• SWEEPS-10: NASA Feature "Hubble Finds Extrasolar Planets Far Across Galaxy", 10.04.06 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/exoplanet_transit.html
• Gliese 876: ESA Hubble site http://www.spacetelescope.org/goodies/art/html/lynette_cook.html
• HD 149026: from Spitzer News 05.09.07 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer-20070509.html; planet interior, from Sky and Telescope July 8 2005 http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/3310426.html?page=1&c=y
• VB10: from "Planet-Hunting Method Succeeds at Last", http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-090
• Microlensing simulation: from the Microlensing Planet Search Project, http://www.nd.edu/~srhie/MPS/
• Artist's conception of latest microlensed planet: from CfA Press Release, 23 May 2005, http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/press/pr0514.html
• Binary microlens: from http://bustard.phys.nd.edu/MPS/97-BLG-41/97blg41.html
• Kepler field of view: from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_Mission

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Last updated 9 November 2011