Hubble’s View of Transiting Planets

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0410674

From: David Charbonneau [view email]

Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 20:46:27 GMT   (42kb)

The Hubble Space Telescope is uniquely able to study planets that are
observed to transit their parent stars. The extremely stable platform afforded
by an orbiting spacecraft, free from the contaminating effects of the Earth’s
atmosphere, enables HST to conduct ultra-high precision photometry and
spectroscopy of known transiting extrasolar planet systems. Among HST’s list of
successful observations of the first such system, HD 209458, are (1) the first
detection of the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet, (2) the determination that
gas is escaping from the planet, and (3) a search for Earth-sized satellites
and circumplanetary rings. Numerous wide-field, ground-based transit surveys
are poised to uncover a gaggle of new worlds for which HST may undertake
similar studies, such as the newly-discovered planet TrES-1. With regard to the
future of Hubble, it must be noted that it is the only observatory in existence
capable of confirming transits of Earth-like planets that may be detected by
NASA’s Kepler mission. Kepler could reveal Earth-like transits by the year
2010, but without a servicing mission it is very unlikely that HST would still
be in operation.

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