Jump To Date
View By Semester
View By Series
Add An Event


Center for Astrophysics Research and Technologies Seminar Series Information

 

Events Calendar

Baby, it's cold outside: Discovering TESS's coldest planets

Wednesday December 7, 2022
2:00 pm


 Presenter:  Mallory Harris
 Series:  Special Talk
 Abstract:  The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is optimized to search small, low-mass stars or “M dwarfs” in the solar neighborhood for transiting extrasolar planets. By focusing on these cool stars and observing the whole sky, TESS represents an opportunity to study the demographics of planets in these systems. Using observations from TESS, I am conducting a survey of cold planets orbiting low-mass stars to calculate their occurrence rates and to provide targets for future characterization. Although previous planet hunting missions have shown that close-in planets are abundant around low-mass stars, only 6 planets have been discovered at distances greater than 0.2 AU from their host star. These planets and their demographics, however, could provide new insight into theories of planet formation and migration around cool stars. To identify these planets in the TESS data, I am developing a pipeline capable of detecting both single- and multiply-transiting planet events based on the signal-to-noise ratio of transit events. I will report on the current state of this search, as well as the discovery of a multi-planet system around low-mass stars that contains an 84-day period planet (the coldest M dwarf planet found by TESS to date) that represents the potential embodied by this search.
 Host:  Diana Dragomir
 Location:  PAIS-3205, PAIS

Disability Notice If you need an auxiliary aid or service to attend any Department of Physics and Astronomy event, please contact the department (phone: 505 277-2616; email: physics@unm.edu) as far in advance as possible to ensure you are accommodated.