An international team of astronomers, including members of PlanetS , discovered an exoplanet by direct imaging using SPHERE, an instrument designed and developed by a consortium of 12 European institutes on the Very Large Telescope ESO, based in Chile. The instrument, which corrects in real time the terrestrial atmospheric turbulences and occult the light of the star, allows to take a real 'photograph' of the exoplanet. This discovery is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics this week. Read more
Title: Discovery of a warm, dusty giant planet around HIP65426 Author: G. Chauvin, S. Desidera, A.-M. Lagrange, A. Vigan, R. Gratton, M. Langlois, M. Bonnefoy, J.-L. Beuzit, M. Feldt, D. Mouillet, M. Meyer, A. Cheetham, B. Biller, A. Boccaletti, V. D'Orazi, R. Galicher, J. Hagelberg, A.-L. Maire, D. Mesa, J. Olofsson, M. Samland, T.O.B. Schmidt, E. Sissa, M. Bonavita, B. Charnay, M. Cudel, S. Daemgen, P. Delorme, P. Janin-Potiron, M. Janson, M. Keppler, H. Le Coroller, R. Ligi, G.D. Marleau, S. Messina, P. Molliere, C. Mordasini, A. Muller, S. Peretti, C. Perrot, L. Rodet, D. Rouan, A. Zurlo, C. Dominik, T. Henning, F. Menard, H.-M. Schmid, M. Turatto, S. Udry, F. Vakili, L. Abe, J. Antichi, A. Baruffolo, P. Baudoz, J. Baudrand, P. Blanchard, A. Bazzon, T. Buey, M. Carbillet, M. Carle, J. Charton, E. Cascone, R. Claudi, A. Costille, A. Deboulbe, V. De Caprio, et al. (57 additional authors not shown)
The SHINE program is a large high-contrast near-infrared survey of 600 young, nearby stars. It is aimed at searching for and characterizing new planetary systems using VLT/SPHERE's unprecedented high-contrast and high-angular resolution imaging capabilities. It also intends at placing statistical constraints on the occurrence and orbital properties of the giant planet population at large orbits as a function of the stellar host mass and age to test planet formation theories. We use the IRDIS dual-band imager and the IFS integral field spectrograph of SPHERE to acquire high-constrast coronagraphic differential near-infrared images and spectra of the young A2 star HIP65426. It is a member of the ~17 Myr old Lower Centaurus-Crux association. At a separation of 830 mas (92 au projected) from the star, we detect a faint red companion. Multi-epoch observations confirm that it shares common proper motion with HIP65426. Spectro-photometric measurements extracted with IFS and IRDIS between 0.95 and 2.2um indicate a warm, dusty atmosphere characteristic of young low surface-gravity L5-L7 dwarfs. Hot-start evolutionary models predict a luminosity consistent with a 6-12 MJup, Teff=1300-1600 K and R=1.5 RJup giant planet. Finally, the comparison with Exo-REM and PHOENIX BT-Settl synthetic atmosphere models gives consistent effective temperatures but with slightly higher surface gravity solutions of log(g)=4.0-5.0 with smaller radii (1.0-1.3 RJup). Given its physical and spectral properties, HIP65426b occupies a rather unique placement in terms of age, mass and spectral-type among the currently known imaged planets. It represents a particularly interesting case to study the presence of clouds as a function of particle size, composition, and location in the atmosphere, to search for signatures of non-equilibrium chemistry, and finally to test the theory of planet formation and evolution.