Using SPICA Space Telescope to characterize Exoplanets
Abstract
We present the 3.5m SPICA space telescope, a proposed Japanese-led JAXA-ESA mission scheduled for launch around 2017. The actively cooled (<5 K), single aperture telescope and monolithic mirror will operate from ~3.5 to ~210 um and will provide superb sensitivity in the mid- and far-IR spectral domain (better than JWST at lambda > 18 um). SPICA is one of the few space missions selected to go to the next stage of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 selection process. In this White Paper we present the main specifications of the three instruments currently baselined for SPICA: a mid-infrared (MIR) coronagraph (~3.5 to ~27 um) with photometric and spectral capabilities (R~200), a MIR wide-field camera and high resolution spectrometer (R~30,000), and a far-infrared (FIR ~30 to ~210 um) imaging spectrometer - SAFARI - led by a European consortium. We discuss their capabilities in the context of MIR direct observations of exo-planets (EPs) and multiband photometry/high resolution spectroscopy observations of transiting exo-planets. We conclude that SPICA will be able to characterize the atmospheres of transiting exo-planets down to the super-Earth size previously detected by ground- or space-based observatories. It will also directly detect and characterize Jupiter/Neptune-size planets orbiting at larger separation from their parent star (>5-10 AU), by performing quantitative atmospheric spectroscopy and studying proto-planetary and debris disks. In addition, SPICA will be a scientific and technological precursor for future, more ambitious, IR space missions for exo-planet direct detection as it will, for example, quantify the prevalence exo-zodiacal clouds in planetary systems and test coronographic techniques, cryogenic systems and lightweight, high quality telescopes. (abridged)
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0809.0242,
title = {Using SPICA Space Telescope to characterize Exoplanets},
author = {J. R. Goicoechea and B. Swinyard and G. Tinetti and T. Nakagawa and K. Enya and M. Tamura and M. Ferlet and K. G. Isaak and M. Wyatt and A. D. Aylward and M. Barlow and J. P. Beaulieu and A. Boccaletti and J. Cernicharo and J. Cho and R. Claudi and H. Jones and H. Lammer and A. Leger and J. Martín-Pintado and S. Miller and F. Najarro and D. Pinfield and J. Schneider and F. Selsis and D. M. Stam and J. Tennyson and S. Viti and G. White},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0809.0242},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
A White Paper for ESA's Exo-Planet Roadmap Advisory Team, submitted on 2008 July 29