Angelle Tanner, Mississippi State
When
Abstract: The Landolt mission, which will be laser-packing 12U CubeSat selected for the NASA Pioneers program, will provide improved stellar absolute flux uncertainties that will have a significant impact on our knowledge of the properties of extrasolar planets, supernova, and beyond. Now that Gaia has provided improved distances and cutting-edge echelle spectrographs are reaching RV precisions below 1 m/s, the error on the flux of the star can be the dominant source of uncertainty for some planet properties. While the transit signal geometrically reveals the radius of the planet, that value and the planet’s mass depend on the flux of the star and its distance, radius, and temperature. For some systems, we expect that the uncertainties in planet radius could improve from 5% to 0.5% with potential ramifications for the interpretation of the planet-radius gap. Absolute flux uncertainties also impact estimates of stellar ages thus impeding our ability to study planetary properties as a function of time. Supernova cosmology studies are dependent on the absolute spectral flux calibration of a set of standard white dwarfs which need to have consistent uncertainties at a range of rest wavelengths. These uncertainties then propagate into the parameters used to determine the dark energy equation of state. For this colloquium I will describe the Landolt mission, why we need it, why it’s named after a well-loved astronomer, and how it will improve our understanding of the Universe. I will also discuss our initial attempt at an exoplanet host star target list and the mission’s plan for a General Observers (GO) program intended to expand its impact. This includes a web application which will guide proposers to the observability of the spacecraft and the potential for yet unexplored applications of the mission to exoplanet science.
Please sign up for one-on-one meetings with Angelle on Thursday or Friday. Place your name and your meeting location on the itinerary below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XlNkxvfwVoH4tb6sQ7zbRjpC2PHppOlJnLrquqdAU-E/edit?usp=sharing
Dr. Tanner has also requested students and faculty to attend a small special talk that she is offering on Friday. She is presenting some information on a project she has been working on and would like some feedback. If you are available, feel free to pop in Friday morning at 9am to room N305 for a one-hour time slot (plus an extra 30mins held at the end if feedback and questions run long).