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Register a new userSearching for Planetary Transits in Star Clusters
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Authors
David T. F. Weldrake
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Star clusters provide an excellent opportunity to study the role of environment on determining the frequencies of short period planets. They provide a large sample of stars which can be imaged simultaneously, with a common distance, age and pre-determined physical parameters. This allows the search to be tailor-made for each specific cluster. Several groups are attempting to detect transiting planets in open clusters. Three previous surveys have also targeted the two brightest globular clusters. No cluster survey has yet detected a planet. This contribution presents a brief overview of the field, highlighting the pros and cons of performing such a search, and presents the expected and current results, with implications for planetary frequencies in regions of high stellar density and low metallicity.
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Open clusters potentially provide an ideal environment for the search for transiting extrasolar planets since they feature a relatively large number of stars of the same known age and metallicity at the same distance. With this motivation, over a dozen open clusters are now being monitored by four different groups. We review the motivations and challenges for open cluster transit surveys for short-period giant planets. Our photometric monitoring survey (EXPLORE/OC) of Galactic southern open clusters was designed with the goals of maximizing the chance of finding and characterizing planets, and of providing for a statistically valuable astrophysical result in the case of no detections. We use the EXPLORE/OC data from two open clusters NGC 2660 and NGC 6208 to illustrate some of the largely unrecognized issues facing open cluster surveys including severe contamination by Galactic field stars ($>$ 80%) and relatively low number of cluster members for which high precision photometry can be obtained. We discuss how a careful selection of open cluster targets under a wide range of criteria such as cluster richness, observability, distance, and age can meet the challenges, maximizing chances to detect planet transits. In addition, we present the EXPLORE/OC observing strategy to optimize planet detection which includes high-cadence observing and continuously observing individual clusters rather than alternating between targets.
We have performed a large ground-based search for transiting Hot Jupiter planets in the outer regions of the globular clusters 47 Tucanae and omega Centauri. The aim was to help understand the role that environmental effects play on Hot Jupiter formation and survivability in globular clusters. Using the ANU 1m telescope and a 52 X 52 field, a total of 54,000 solar-type stars were searched for transits in both clusters with fully tested transit-finding algorithms. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations were performed to model the datasets and calculate the expected planet yields. Seven planets were expected in 47 Tuc, and five in omega Cen. Despite a detailed search, no planet-like candidates were identified in either cluster. Combined with previous theoretical studies of planet survivability, and the HST null result in the core of 47 Tuc, the lack of detections in the uncrowded outer regions of both clusters indicates that stellar metallicity is the dominant factor inhibiting Hot Jupiter formation in the cluster environment.
A 52X52 field in the Lupus Galactic plane was observed with the ANU 1m telescope for 53 nights during 2005 and 2006 in a search for transiting Hot Jupiter planets. A total of 2200 images were obtained. We have sampled 120,000 stars via differential photometry, of which ~26,000 have sufficient photometric accuracy (<=2.5%) with which to perform a search for transiting planets. Ongoing analysis has led to the identification of three candidates. We present an overview of the project, including the results of radial velocity analysis performed on the first candidate (Lupus-TR-1) with the 4m AAT telescope. The third candidate, Lupus-TR-3 (P=3.914d, V~16.5), is a particularly strong case for a giant planet of 1.0-1.2RJ orbiting a solar-like primary star with a near central transit. Further observations are planned to determine its nature.
Open clusters are ideal targets for searching for transiting Hot Jupiters. They provide a relatively large concentration of stars on the sky and cluster members have similar metallicities, ages and distances. Fainter cluster members are likely to show deeper transit signatures, helping to offset sky noise contributions. A survey of open clusters will then help to characterise the Hot Jupiter fraction of main sequence stars, and how this may depend on primordial metallicity and stellar age. We present results from 11 nights of observations of the open cluster NGC 7789 with the WFC camera on the INT telescope in La Palma. From 684 epochs, we obtained lightcurves and B-V colours for ~25600 stars, with ~2400 stars with better than 1% precision. We expect to detect ~1 transiting Hot Jupiter in our sample assuming that 1% of stars host a Hot Jupiter companion.
Observations of TRES-1b transits made during the late summer and fall 2004 observing season reveal a statistically significant but low amplitude brightening event during egress.
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