Related papers: Design Considerations for a Ground-Based Search fo…
We report the first ground-based transit observation of K2-3d, a 1.5 R_Earth planet supposedly within the habitable zone around a bright M-dwarf host star, using the Okayama 188 cm telescope and the multi(grz)-band imager MuSCAT. Although…
The best-characterized exoplanets to date are planets on close-in transiting orbits around their host stars. The high level of irradiation and transiting geometry of these objects make them ideal targets for atmospheric investigations.…
High-resolution imaging has revealed an unusually high binary fraction amongst objects spanning the transition between the L dwarf and T dwarf spectral classes. In an attempt to reproduce and unravel the origins of this apparent binary…
We present a catalog of cool dwarf targets ($V-J>2.7$, $T_{\rm eff} \lesssim 4000 K$) and their stellar properties for the upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), for the purpose of determining which cool dwarfs should be…
In anticipation of the VLT/SPHERE planet imager guaranteed time programs, we have conducted a preparatory survey of 86 stars between 2009 and 2013 in order to identify new faint comoving companions to ultimately carry out a comprehensive…
Doppler and transit surveys are finding extrasolar planets of ever smaller mass and radius, and are now sampling the domain of superEarths (1-3 Earth radii). Recent results from the Doppler surveys suggest that discovery of a transiting…
A number of transiting, potentially habitable Earth-sized exoplanets have recently been detected around several nearby M dwarf stars. These worlds represent important targets for atmospheric characterization for the upcoming NASA James Webb…
Transits of bright stars offer a unique opportunity to study detailed properties of extrasolar planets that cannot be determined through radial-velocity observations. We propose a new technique to find such systems using all-sky…
Nearby M dwarf systems currently offer the most favorable opportunities for spectroscopic investigations of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. The LTT~1445 system is a hierarchical triple of M dwarfs with two known planets orbiting the…
Recent discoveries of transiting giant exoplanets around M-dwarf stars (GEMS), aided by the all-sky coverage of TESS, are starting to stretch theories of planet formation through the core-accretion scenario. Recent upper limits on their…
Over the past few years, astronomers have detected thousands of planets and candidate planets by observing their periodic transits in front of their host stars. Related methods might soon allow studies of the chemical imprints of life in…
In this paper, we explore the astrophysical implications of near-field microlensing and its effects on stellar transit observations, with a special emphasis on the Kepler mission. Kepler is a NASA-approved mission whose goal is to detect a…
We describe a high-precision Doppler search for giant planets orbiting a well-defined sample of metal-poor dwarfs in the field. This experiment constitutes a fundamental test of theoretical predictions which will help discriminate between…
Context. High contrast imaging is a powerful technique to search for gas giant planets and brown dwarfs orbiting at separation larger than several AU. Around solar-type stars, giant planets are expected to form by core accretion or by…
The nominal habitable zone for exoplanets orbiting M dwarfs lies close to the host star, making dynamical considerations especially important. One consequence of this proximity is the expectation of spin synchronization, with implications…
We conducted a global analysis of the TRAPPIST Ultra-Cool Dwarf Transit Survey - a prototype of the SPECULOOS transit search conducted with the TRAPPIST-South robotic telescope in Chile from 2011 to 2017 - to estimate the occurrence rate of…
We present first results of our planet search program using the 9.2 meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at McDonald Observatory to detect planets around M-type dwarf stars via high-precision radial velocity (RV) measurements. Although more…
A lightcurve of the eclipsing binary CM Draconis has been analyzed for the presence of transits of planets of size >= 2.5 Earth-radii (Re), with periods of 60 days or less, and in co-planar orbits around the binary system. About 400 million…
Short-period super-Earths and Neptunes are now known to be very frequent around solar-type stars. Improving our understanding of these mysterious planets requires the detection of a significant sample of objects suitable for detailed…
Current atmospheric models cannot reproduce some of the characteristics of the transition between the L dwarfs with cloudy atmospheres and the T dwarfs with dust-depleted photospheres. It has been proposed that a majority of the L/T…