E-resources
-
Gratton, R.; Zurlo, A.; Le Coroller, H.; Damasso, M.; Del Sordo, F.; Langlois, M.; Mesa, D.; Milli, J.; Chauvin, G.; Desidera, S.; Hagelberg, J.; Lagadec, E.; Vigan, A.; Boccaletti, A.; Bonnefoy, M.; Brandner, W.; Brown, S.; Cantalloube, F.; Delorme, P.; D’Orazi, V.; Feldt, M.; Galicher, R.; Henning, T.; Janson, M.; Kervella, P.; Lagrange, A.-M.; Lazzoni, C.; Ligi, R.; Maire, A.-L.; Ménard, F.; Meyer, M.; Mugnier, L.; Potier, A.; Rickman, E. L.; Rodet, L.; Romero, C.; Schmidt, T.; Sissa, E.; Sozzetti, A.; Szulágyi, J.; Wahhaj, Z.; Antichi, J.; Fusco, T.; Stadler, E.; Suarez, M.; Wildi, F.
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), 06/2020, Volume: 638Journal Article, Web Resource
Context. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun and it is known to host an Earth-like planet in its habitable zone; very recently a second candidate planet was proposed based on radial velocities. At quadrature, the expected projected separation of this new candidate is larger than 1 arcsec, making it a potentially interesting target for direct imaging. Aims. While identification of the optical counterpart of this planet is expected to be very difficult, successful identification would allow for a detailed characterization of the closest planetary system. Methods. We searched for a counterpart in SPHERE images acquired over four years through the SHINE survey. In order to account for the expected large orbital motion of the planet, we used a method that assumes the circular orbit obtained from radial velocities and exploits the sequence of observations acquired close to quadrature in the orbit. We checked this with a more general approach that considers Keplerian motion, called K-stacker. Results. We did not obtain a clear detection. The best candidate has signal-to-noise ratio ( S ∕ N ) = 6.1 in the combined image. A statistical test suggests that the probability that this detection is due to random fluctuation of noise is <1%, but this result depends on the assumption that the distribution of noise is uniform over the image, a fact that is likely not true. The position of this candidate and the orientation of its orbital plane fit well with observations in the ALMA 12 m array image. However, the astrometric signal expected from the orbit of the candidate we detected is 3 σ away from the astrometric motion of Proxima as measured from early Gaia data. This, together with the unexpectedly high flux associated with our direct imaging detection, means we cannot confirm that our candidate is indeed Proxima c. Conclusions. On the other hand, if confirmed, this would be the first observation in imaging of a planet discovered from radial velocities and the second planet (after Fomalhaut b) of reflecting circumplanetary material. Further confirmation observations should be done as soon as possible.
Author
![loading ... loading ...](themes/default/img/ajax-loading.gif)
Shelf entry
Permalink
- URL:
Impact factor
Access to the JCR database is permitted only to users from Slovenia. Your current IP address is not on the list of IP addresses with access permission, and authentication with the relevant AAI accout is required.
Year | Impact factor | Edition | Category | Classification | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JCR | SNIP | JCR | SNIP | JCR | SNIP | JCR | SNIP |
Select the library membership card:
If the library membership card is not in the list,
add a new one.
DRS, in which the journal is indexed
Database name | Field | Year |
---|
Links to authors' personal bibliographies | Links to information on researchers in the SICRIS system |
---|
Source: Personal bibliographies
and: SICRIS
The material is available in full text. If you wish to order the material anyway, click the Continue button.