The GAIA Astrometric Survey of the Solar Neighborhood and its Contribution to the Target Database for DARWIN/TPF

Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0305111

From: Alessandro Sozzetti <asozzett@cfa.harvard.edu>

Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 17:49:40 GMT   (435kb)

Authors:
A. Sozzetti (1,2,3),
S. Casertano (4),
M. G. Lattanzi (3),
A. Spagna (3) ((1) Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; (2) The University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy; (3) Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino; (4) Space Telescope Science Institute)

Comments: 6 pages, 4 figures, uses esapub.cls, to appear in the Proceedings of
the Conference `Toward Other Earths: DARWIN/TPF and the Search for Extrasolar
Terrestrial Planets’, ESA SP-359 (EPD)

We evaluate the potential of the ESA Cornerstone Mission GAIA in helping
populate the database of nearby stars ($d < 25$ pc) for subsequent target
selection for DARWIN/TPF. The GAIA high-precision astrometric measurements will
make it an ideal tool for a complete screening of the expected several
thousands stars within 25 pc in order to identify and characterize (or rule out
the presence of) Jupiter signposts. GAIA astrometry will be instrumental in
complementing radial velocity surveys of F-G-K stars, and will more effectively
search for massive planets the large database of nearby M dwarfs, which are
less easily accessible with precision spectroscopy. The ability to determine
the actual planet masses and inclination angles for detected systems,
especially those with low-mass primaries (M $< 0.6$ M$_odot$), stems as a
fundamental contribution GAIA will make toward the final target selection for
DARWIN/TPF, thus complementing exo-zodiacal dust emission observations from
ground-based observatories such as Keck, LBTI, and VLTI.

References and citations for this submission:

SLAC-SPIRES HEP (refers to ,
cited by, arXiv reformatted);

CiteBase (autonomous citation navigation and analysis)