Related papers: Starshade Rendezvous: Exoplanet Sensitivity and Ob…
The Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will demonstrate the high-contrast technology necessary for visible-light exoplanet imaging and spectroscopy from space via direct imaging of Jupiter-size planets and…
Exoplanetary science is among the fastest evolving fields of today's astronomical research. Ground-based planet-hunting surveys alongside dedicated space missions (Kepler, CoRoT) are delivering an ever-increasing number of exoplanets, now…
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will conduct a High Latitude Spectroscopic Survey (HLSS) over a large volume at high redshift, using the near-IR grism (1.0-1.93 $\mu$m, $R=435-865$) and the 0.28 deg$^2$ wide field camera. We present a…
A key challenge for starshades is formation flying. To successfully image exoplanets, the telescope boresight and starshade must be aligned to ~1 m at separations of tens of thousands of kilometers. This challenge has two parts: first, the…
External occulters, otherwise known as starshades, have been proposed as a solution to one of the highest priority yet technically vexing problems facing astrophysics - the direct imaging and characterization of terrestrial planets around…
The characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres through transit spectra is becoming increasingly feasible, and technology for direct detection remains ongoing. The possibility of detecting spectral features could enable quantitative…
The Roman Space Telescope will be a critical mission to demonstrate high-contrast imaging technologies allowing for the characterisation of exoplanets in reflected light. It will demonstrate $10^{-7}$ contrast limits or better at 3--9…
After nearly three decades of discovery, many exoplanetary systems have been studied and characterized in detail with one important exception: exoplanet magnetism. Although many surveys sought to detect magnetospheric radio emissions from…
One of the primary mission objectives for the Roman Space Telescope is to investigate the nature of dark energy with a variety of methods. Observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) will be one of the principal anchors of the Roman cosmology…
We report new methods for evaluating realistic observing programs that search stars for planets by direct imaging, where observations are selected from an optimized star list, and where stars can be observed multiple times. We show how…
Searches for planets via gravitational lensing have focused on cases in which the projected separation, a, between planet and star is comparable to the Einstein radius, R_E. This paper considers smaller orbital separations and demonstrates…
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a flagship astrophysics mission planned for launch no later than May 2027. The Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) aboard Roman will demonstrate the technology for direct imaging and spectroscopy of…
(abridged) A complete census of planetary systems around a volume-limited sample of solar-type stars (FGK dwarfs) in the Solar neighborhood with uniform sensitivity down to Earth-mass planets within their Habitable Zones out to several AUs…
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will search for planets transiting bright and nearby stars. TESS has been selected by NASA for launch in 2017 as an Astrophysics Explorer mission. The spacecraft will be placed into a highly…
The TESS follow-up of a large number of known transiting exoplanets provide unique opportunity to study their physical properties more precisely. Being a space-based telescope, the TESS observations are devoid of any noise component…
Space telescopes such as EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) and JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) will be important for the future study of extrasolar planet atmospheres. Both of these missions are capable of performing high…
We present the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Habitable Zone Stars Catalog, a list of 1822 nearby stars with a TESS magnitude brighter than T = 12 and reliable distances from Gaia DR2, around which the NASA's TESS mission can…
We demonstrate that gravitational lensing can be used to discover and study planets in the habitable zones of nearby dwarf stars. If appropriate software is developed, a new generation of monitoring programs will automatically conduct a…
Transmission spectroscopy of Earth-like exoplanets is a potential tool for habitability screening. Transiting planets are present-day "Rosetta Stones" for understanding extrasolar planets because they offer the possibility to characterize…
Simultaneous observations from two spatially well-separated telescopes can lead to the measurements of the microlensing parallax parameter, an important quantity toward the determinations of the lens mass. The separation between Earth and…