Abstract
A complete census of planetary systems around a volume-limited sample of solar-type stars (FGK dwarfs) in the Solar neighborhood (d ≤ 15 pc) with uniform sensitivity down to Earth-mass planets within their Habitable Zones out to several AUs would be a major milestone in extrasolar planets astrophysics. This fundamental goal can be achieved with a mission concept such as NEAT—the Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope. NEAT is designed to carry out space-borne extremely-high-precision astrometric measurements at the 0.05 μas (1 σ) accuracy level, sufficient to detect dynamical effects due to orbiting planets of mass even lower than Earth’s around the nearest stars. Such a survey mission would provide the actual planetary masses and the full orbital geometry for all the components of the detected planetary systems down to the Earth-mass limit. The NEAT performance limits can be achieved by carrying out differential astrometry between the targets and a set of suitable reference stars in the field. The NEAT instrument design consists of an off-axis parabola single-mirror telescope (D = 1 m), a detector with a large field of view located 40 m away from the telescope and made of 8 small movable CCDs located around a fixed central CCD, and an interferometric calibration system monitoring dynamical Young’s fringes originating from metrology fibers located at the primary mirror. The mission profile is driven by the fact that the two main modules of the payload, the telescope and the focal plane, must be located 40 m away leading to the choice of a formation flying option as the reference mission, and of a deployable boom option as an alternative choice. The proposed mission architecture relies on the use of two satellites, of about 700 kg each, operating at L2 for 5 years, flying in formation and offering a capability of more than 20,000 reconfigurations. The two satellites will be launched in a stacked configuration using a Soyuz ST launch vehicle. The NEAT primary science program will encompass an astrometric survey of our 200 closest F-, G- and K-type stellar neighbors, with an average of 50 visits each distributed over the nominal mission duration. The main survey operation will use approximately 70% of the mission lifetime. The remaining 30% of NEAT observing time might be allocated, for example, to improve the characterization of the architecture of selected planetary systems around nearby targets of specific interest (low-mass stars, young stars, etc.) discovered by Gaia, ground-based high-precision radial-velocity surveys, and other programs. With its exquisite, surgical astrometric precision, NEAT holds the promise to provide the first thorough census for Earth-mass planets around stars in the immediate vicinity of our Sun.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Simulations like the ones presented in Fig. 2 show that SNR = 5.8 results in a false alarm probability of 1%.
The coefficient of thermal expansion of the mirror is about 100 times smaller than those of the elements that compose the detector. The metrology parameters are constantly monitored.
Such reptile motors have been qualified by the Swiss firm RUAG for the LISA GPRM experiment.
Such as the Cedrat XY25XS.
Attitude and Orbit Control System
Telecommand Telemetry
Formation Flying Radio Frequency
ADAM: ABLE Deployable Articulated Mast
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
They are determined by calculating the first 6 coefficients of the Taylor series expansion in powers of wave numbers of the detector response map Fourier components [15].
The Gaia community (http://www.rssd.esa.int/gaia) speaks of the complementary quantity, charge transfer inefficiency (CTI), in order to emphasize its detrimental effects.
References
Coudé du Foresto, V., Gelino, D.M., Ribas, I.: Pathways towards habitable planets. Astron. Soc. Pac. Conf. Ser. 430 (2010)
Erlig, H, Qiu, Y., Poberezhskiy, I., Meras, P., Wu, J.: Reliable optical pump architecture for highly coherent lasers used in space metrology applications. SPIE 7734, E71 (2010)
Gould, A., Dong, S., Gaudi, B.S., Udalski, A., Bond, I.A., Greenhill, J., Street, R.A., Dominik, M., Sumi, T., Szymański, M.K., Han, C., et al.: Frequency of solar-like systems and of ice and gas giants beyond the snow line from high-magnification microlensing events in 2005–2008. Astrophys. J. 720, 1073 (2010)
Goullioud, R.: SIM lite instrument description, operation, and performance. In: Coudé Du Foresto, V., Gelino, D.M., Ribas, I. (eds.) Pathways towards habitable planets. Astron. Soc. Pac. Conf. Ser. 430, 450 (2010)
Guyon, O., Shaklan, S., Levine, M., Cahoy, K., Tenerelli, D., Belikov, R., Kern, B.: The pupil mapping exoplanet coronagraphic observer (PECO). SPIE 7731, 68 (2010)
Kaltenegger, L., Eiroa, C., Ribas, I., Paresce, F., Leitzinger, M., Odert, P., Hanslmeier, A., et al.: Stellar aspects of habitability - characterizing target stars for terrestrial planet-finding missions. Astrobiology 10, 103 (2010)
Lagrange, A., Meunier, N., Desort, M., Malbet, F.: Using the sun to estimate Earth-like planets detection capabilities. III. Impact of spots and plages on astrometric detection. Astron. Astrophys. 528, L9 (2011)
Makarov, V.V., Beichman, C.A., Catanzarite, J.H., Fischer, D.A., Lebreton, J., Malbet, F., Shao, M.: Starspot jitter in photometry, astrometry, and radial velocity measurements. Astrophysical Journal Letters 707, L73 (2009)
Makarov, V.V., Parker, D., Ulrich, R.K.: Astrometric jitter of the sun as a star. Astrophys. J. 717, 1202 (2010)
Meunier, N., Lagrange, A., Desort, M.: Reconstructing the solar integrated radial velocity using MDI/SOHO. Astron. Astrophys. 519, A66 (2010)
Scargle, J.D.: Studies in astronomical time series analysis. II - Statistical aspects of spectral analysis of unevenly spaced data. Astrophys. J. 263, 835 (1982)
Traub, W.A., Beichman, C., Boden, A.F., Boss, A.P., Casertano, S., Catanzarite, J., Fischer, D., et al.: Detectability of Earth-like planets in multi-planet systems: preliminary report. EAS Publ. Ser. 42, 191 (2010)
Unwin, S.C., Shao, M., Tanner, A.M., Allen, R.J., Beichman, C.A., Boboltz, D., Catanzarite, J.H., Chaboyer, B.C., Ciardi, D.R., Edberg, S.J., Fey, A.L., Fischer, D.A., Gelino, C.R., Gould, A.P., Grillmair, C., Henry, T.J., Johnston, K.V., Johnston, K.J., Jones, D.L., Kulkarni, S.R., Law, N.M., Majewski, S.R., Makarov, V.V., Marcy, G.W., Meier, D.L., Olling, R.P., Pan, X., Patterson, R.J., Pitesky, J.E., Quirrenbach, A., Shaklan, S.B., Shaya, E.J., Strigari, L.E., Tomsick, J.A., Wehrle, A.E., Worthey, G.: Taking the measure of the universe: precision astrometry with SIM PlanetQuest. PASP 120, 38–88 (2008)
van Leeuwen, F.: Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction. Astron. Astrophys. 474, 653 (2007)
Zhai, C., Shao, M., Goullioud, R., Nemati, B.: Micro-pixel accuracy centroid displacement estimation and detector calibration. Proc. R. Soc. A (2011). doi:10.1098/rspa.2011.0255
Acknowledgements
This work has benefited support from the Centre National des Études Spatiales (CNES), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Thales Alenia Space (TAS) and Swedish Space Corporation (SSC).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Full list of NEAT proposal members at http://neat.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Malbet, F., Léger, A., Shao, M. et al. High precision astrometry mission for the detection and characterization of nearby habitable planetary systems with the Nearby Earth Astrometric Telescope (NEAT). Exp Astron 34, 385–413 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-011-9246-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-011-9246-1