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Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto

The future of Extrasolar Planets: new instrumentation for new science

IF/01037/2013CP1191/CT0001

Principal investigator
Pedro Figueira

This exploratory project is associated to investigador FCT grant of reference IF/01037/2013, entitled "The future of Extrasolar Planets: new instrumentation for new science".

The search for extrasolar planets is one of the fastest-growing fields in current-day astronomy. Spurred by the discovery of an ever-growing diversity of planets, scientists pushed the precision of their detection methods further and further. The two most used, radial velocity and transits, are now able to detect Earth-type planets, and changed the way we look at our own system in the process.

Through this project we propose to address the thematic of precise radial velocities, with emphasis on the knowledge and technology transfer from the visible domain to the near infra-red domain. I will focus on the development of reduction and analysis tools for spectroscopic data, and on the development of dedicated instrumentation for the detection of extrasolar planets. I will also consecrate some time to the analysis of large datasets of planet and host-star properties.

Funding institution
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Start: 1 January 2014
End: 31 January 2018


Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) is a new but long anticipated research infrastructure with a national dimension. It embodies a bold but feasible vision for the development of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal, taking full advantage and fully realizing the potential created by the national membership of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). IA resulted from the merging the two most prominent research units in the field in Portugal: the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto (CAUP) and the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Lisbon (CAAUL). It currently hosts more than two-thirds of all active researchers working in Space Sciences in Portugal, and is responsible for an even greater fraction of the national productivity in international ISI journals in the area of Space Sciences. This is the scientific area with the highest relative impact factor (1.65 times above the international average) and the field with the highest average number of citations per article for Portugal.

Proceed on CAUP's website|Go to IA website