CHEOPS: A transit photometry mission for ESA's small mission programme
Paper in proceeding, 2013
Ground based radial velocity (RV) searches continue to discover exoplanets below Neptune mass down to Earth mass. Furthermore, ground based transit searches now reach milli-mag photometric precision and can discover Neptune size planets around bright stars. These searches will find exoplanets around bright stars anywhere on the sky, their discoveries representing prime science targets for further study due to the proximity and brightness of their host stars. A mission for transit follow-up measurements of these prime targets is currently lacking. The first ESA S-class mission CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExoPlanet Satellite) will fill this gap. It will perform ultra-high precision photometric monitoring of selected bright target stars almost anywhere on the sky with sufficient precision to detect Earth sized transits. It will be able to detect transits of RV-planets by photometric monitoring if the geometric configuration results in a transit. For Hot Neptunes discovered from the ground, CHEOPS will be able to improve the transit light curve so that the radius can be determined precisely. Because of the host stars' brightness, high precision RV measurements will be possible for all targets. All planets observed in transit by CHEOPS will be validated and their masses will be known. This will provide valuable data for constraining the mass-radius relation of exoplanets, especially in the Neptune-mass regime. During the planned 3.5 year mission, about 500 targets will be observed. There will be 20% of open time available for the community to develop new science programmes.
Author
C. Broeg
University of Bern
A. Fortier
University of Bern
D. Ehrenreich
University of Geneva
Y. Alibert
University of Bern
W. Baumjohann
Osterreichische Akademie Der Wissenschaften
W. Benz
University of Bern
M. Deleuil
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
Michaël Gillon
University of Liège
A. Ivanov
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
René Liseau
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Onsala Space Observatory
M. Meyer
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
G. Oloffson
Stockholm University
I. Pagano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Giampaolo P. Piotto
University of Padua
Don L. Pollacco
Queen's University Belfast
D. Queloz
University of Geneva
Roberto Ragazzoni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
E. Renotte
Centre Spatial de Liége
Manfred B. Steller
Osterreichische Akademie Der Wissenschaften
Nicolas Thomas
University of Bern
EPJ Web of Conferences
21016275 (ISSN) 2100014X (eISSN)
Vol. 47 03005978-275980985-1 (ISBN)
Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1051/epjconf/20134703005
ISBN
978-275980985-1