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SIM PlanetQuest Key Project Precursor Observations to Detect Gas Giant Planets Around Young StarsWe present a review of precursor observing programs for the SIM PlanetQuest Key project devoted to detecting Jupiter mass planets around young stars. In order to ensure that the stars in the sample are free of various sources of astrometric noise that might impede the detection of planets, we have initiated programs to collect photometry, high contrast images, interferometric data and radial velocities for stars in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. We have completed a high contrast imaging survey of target stars in Taurus and the Pleiades and found no definitive common proper motion companions within one arcsecond (140 AU) of the SIM targets. Our radial velocity surveys have shown that many of the target stars in Sco-Cen are fast rotators and a few stars in Taurus and the Pleiades may have sub-stellar companions. Interferometric data of a few stars in Taurus show no signs of stellar or sub-stellar companions with separations of <5 mas. The photometric survey suggests that approximately half of the stars initially selected for this program are variable to a degree (1(sigma) >0.1 mag) that would degrade the astrometric accuracy achievable for that star. While the precursor programs are still a work in progress, we provide a comprehensive list of all targets ranked according to their viability as a result of the observations taken to date. By far, the observable that removes the most targets from the SIM-YSO program is photometric variability.
Document ID
20080036091
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Tanner, Angelle
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Beichman, Charles
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Akeson, Rachel
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Ghez, Andrea
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Grankin, Konstantin N.
(Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
Herbst, William
(Wesleyan Univ. Middletown, CT, United States)
Hillenbrand, Lynne
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Huerta, Marcos
(Florida Univ. Gainesville, FL, United States)
Konopacky, Quinn
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Metchev, Stanimir
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Mohanty, Subhanjoy
(Harvard Univ. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Prato, L.
(Lowell Observatory Flagstaff, AZ, United States)
Simon, Michal
(State Univ. of New York Stony Brook, NY, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
February 1, 2008
Subject Category
Astronomy
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
astrophysics
astrometry
extrasolar planets
pre-main sequence

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