NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0144
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0144 |
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PI: Leslie Hebb, Vanderbilt University, leslie.hebb@vanderbilt.edu
Address: Physics Department, 6301 Stevenson Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
CoI: Larry Petro, Space Telescope Science Institute
CoI: Holland C. Ford, The Johns Hopkins University
Title: Detecting Star-grazing comets in young debris disk systems
Abstract:
During the early phase of planetary formation and evolution after
the protoplanetary gas disk has dissipated, existing gas giant planets
continue to migrate via interactions with their planetesimal disks.
Planet-planetesimal interactions can create families of high
eccentricity comets that pass near to their host stars. These star-
grazing comets leave observable signatures in their host star spectra
which consist of narrow, time-varying, high velocity absorption features
of refractory elements. Here, we propose to detect such star-grazing
comets around a large sample of young, debris disk host stars. The
proposed observations will allow us to infer the presence of giant
planets in these young systems, to observe directly the results of
planet-planetesimal disk interactions, and to investigate this scenario
as a mechanism for carrying water to rocky planets in exo-solar systems.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011B-0144 |
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