SEARCH FOR OTHER WORLDS

Roberto Bartali –

Abstract
People always asked themselves: “Are we alone in the Universe?” The answer starts
to come in 1995 when the first planet orbiting a star, which is not our Sun, was discovered.
This work is about the search of those planets, focused on the methodologies
employed for its detection from the ground and from space.
The development of new technologies, in the last few years in the field of optic,
electronic and mechanics, permitted the construction of giant telescopes, interferometers
and space based observatories which show us many features totally new. Many theories
were confirmed thanks to these powerful instruments and many others were placed in doubt.
The first part of the work is focused to the description of each method used for the
detection of exoplanets, describing the principle on which it is based, the kind of
instruments it uses and where it is actually employed for the job.
The second part is the description of the currently working and planned space
missions aimed to the exoplanet search.
Day after day, new discoveries came to light, the number of exoplanets grows
rapidly, I will present a table of the principal characteristics of all known planets orbiting
other stars.
Our theories about the formation of the Solar System worked well until the
discovery of giant planets orbiting very close to their parent stars. In the last section I will
discuss why the old theory does not fit in the light of the newly discovered extrasolar
planetary systems.

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Introduction
People around the world always asked
themselves: “Are we alone in the Universe?”,
“Is the Sun the only star with a realm of
planets?” The answer for the first question is:
“Maybe yes, maybe not”, but, for the latter is
“Yes!”. Now we know many other planetary
systems in our Galaxy.
From long ago, philosophers and
astronomers though about the possibility of the
existence of other planets around stars, but it
was until 1995 when the first extrasolar planet,
or exoplanet, was discovered.
Figure 1 In this paper I will show how
The first possible image of an exoplanet in astronomers search for and detect exoplanets
the system of the star 2M1207 describing the techniques, the instrumentation
From: http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-
rel/pr-2004/pr-23-04.html and the methods employed to find them.
The search for exoplanet is the newest
field of Astronomy, so many new technologies was developed and many others must be
developed in the future to achieve better and faster results. I will present, also, these new
techniques and what kinds of researches are planned in the future, especially those devoted
to the search for exoplanets from space.
I will discuss, also, about the theories we have on the formation of a planetary
system, the discovery of planets around stars, placed in doubt what we know until now.
Even when the observation of an exoplanet is difficult, it is not a field exclusively
for astronomers equipped with multimillion dollars equipments, a well skilled amateur, can
do it and, also, discover a new planet with modest instruments.

Some history
The idea of other planets orbiting stars came from the mind
of many ancient philosophers, after the invention of the telescope,
astronomers tried to find them for almost four centuries and now
we have the evidence and possibly an image of an exoplanet.

Figure 2
The Greek philosopher Democritus
From: http://www-gap.dcs.st-
and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Democritus.html

• Democritus (460-370 BC) (Figure 2), and Epicurus ((341-270 BC) were
Greek philosophers of the Atomist group [1], they were many centuries
ahead of their time, because they believed in the infinite number of other
worlds

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 • Unfortunately, astronomy, and science in general, were strongly influenced
by Aristotle (384-322 BC) who believed in the Earth as the only planet in the
Universe.
• Many centuries later, an Italian philosopher, Giordano Bruno (1548-1600),
retakes the Atomist theories saying that there are an infinite number of stars
and an infinite number of planets, like Earth, orbiting around them; but that
affirmation was sufficient to be condemned burnt at the stake [2].
• Christian Huygens (1629-1695)
was the first to search for
exoplanets [1];
• For many years Peter van de Kamp
(1901-1995) tried, without any
result, to find planets around the
Barnard star [3],[9].
• Otto Struve (1897-1963) [4]
proposed, in 1952, that studying
changes in radial velocity with a
Figure 3
spectroscope first, and, then
Mayor and Queloz, discoverers measuring variations of the
of the first exoplanet luminosity with a photometer, it
From: http://www.obs-
hp.fr/www/nouvelles/51-
could be possible to detect a planet
peg.html orbiting a star [5].
• Frank Drake (Figure 4) developed,
in 1961, an equation “The Drake Equation” [6],[7],[8] for calculating
(statistically) the number of possible planets with technological civilizations
around other stars in the Galaxy.
• Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz (Figure 3) discovered the first exoplanet
orbiting the star 51 PEG in 1995 (October 5) with the Hamilton
Spectrograph at the Lick Observatory. [11]
• The ESO VLT/NAOS adaptive optics imaging facility, take what is seems to
be the first picture of an exoplanet (Figure 1) on September 10, 2004. [12]

The Drake Equation

The first attempt to evaluate the number of
possible planets in the Galaxy was issued by Frank
Drake in 1961. He proposed an equation where the
result could be as true as possible depending on the
certainty of
Figure 4
Frank Drake and his famous equation the value of
From:http://www.seti.org/site/pp.asp? each term.
c=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=179073

Unfortunately we can only “guess” about the value of all of the terms of the equation
[7],[8]. The purpose of that formula is to get an approximate number of civilizations with
technological skills sufficient to send interstellar messages in the form of electromagnetic

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waves. For this work, I am interested only in the second (Fp = fraction of stars with planets)
and, only partially, in the third (Ne = number of planets per system) terms.
I will explain, briefly, each term of the Equation:
N = R* Fp Ne Fl Fi Fc L
Where:
• N = number of civilizations in the Galaxy transmitting electromagnetic waves.
• R* = rate of long living star formation per year.
• Fp = fraction of those stars with planetary systems.
• Ne = number of planets suitable for life.
• Fl = fraction of suitable planets on which life appears.
• Fi = fraction of planets on which intelligent life emerges.
• Fc = fraction of technological and communicating civilizations.
• L = length of time, in years, such civilizations are transmitting signals.
The best “guess” value for each term depends on who fits all the numbers in the equation;
for example, Shostak [7] gives this set of possible values:
R* = 5; Fp = 0.5; Ne = 1; Fl = 1; Fi = 1; Fc = 1; L = 10,000; so N = 25000
.
Earth based detection methods and projects
There are several methods used by astronomers to detect exoplanets, most of them
are indirect [16]. The light we receive, from the planet, is millions of times lesser than the

Figure 5: Diagram of methods used for exoplanet search by M. Perrymann (ESA)

From: http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Staff/perryman/planet-figure.pdf

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light emitted by the host star because they are orbiting at very short distance from it and
their diameters are tens of times lesser than the diameter of the star.
The figure 5 represents a summary of, all currently and planned for the future,
methods for the detection of exoplanets, it is created by M. Perryman of the European
Southern Observatory (ESA).
I will describe the concept behind each of the methods currently used. As we see in
the above diagram there are three main approaches based on:
• Dynamical effects
o Radial velocity
o Astrometry
o Pulsar timing
• Microlensing
• Photometric signals
o Imaging direct detection
o Transit

Radial Velocity

This is the most successful method for indirect

exoplanet detection. Almost 90% of the known planets
orbiting other stars than our Sun were discovered with it.
It is based on the Doppler Effect. If a star has a
planetary system, the center of mass of the system is not
the same as the center of the star, it is shifted.
An orbiting planet asserts a pull on the star and
the star shows a wobble in its movement which period is
the same as the orbital period of the planet (Figure 6).
The amount of the change in the radial velocity (figure 7)
is proportional to the mass of the planet respect to the
mass of the star and to the radius of the planet orbit.
For example: if the planet mass is 0.001
Figure 6
The planet and the star moves around times the mass of the star and the planet is
the center of mass of the system orbiting at a speed of 20 km/s (20,000 m/s), the
From: www.star.ucl.ac.uk/ star suffer from an oscillation (a variation in its
~rhdt/diploma/lecture_2/
radial velocity) of 20 m/s. If the orbital period of
the planet is 1 year, we can detect a periodical variation of +/- 20 m/s on the velocity profile
of the star each year, the effect is more evident if the planet is orbiting at short distance. If
the orbit is not circular (it has some eccentricity) the spectra is red and blue shifted in
irregular form showing that eccentricity.
This effect is detectable from Earth by using a spectrometer with sufficient
resolution. What we see is a Doppler shift in the spectral lines of the star (Figure 8), when
the planet is orbiting toward us the lines are blueshifted but, if the planet is going away, the
lines are redshifted. Actual spectroscopic technology is able to resolve changes in the radial
velocity of a star as low as 1 m/s or less [10].

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 If the star has more than one planet, each one pulls the
star proportionally of its mass and semimajor axis.
This method is very effective. About 122 planets were discovered by it.
We can calculate many parameters for the system:
• Mass of the planet
• Orbital period
• Orbital semimajor axis
• Eccentricity of the orbit
• Possible detection of more
planets in the same system
There is a problem that arises using
this method because it works well only if the
plane of the orbit of the planet is aligned with
our line of sight. In this case all the parameters
measured corresponds to the real parameters
of the system, but if the orbit is inclined,
Figure 7 there is a factor of 1/sin i to compensate
Radial velocity curve variations for the star
Gliese876 for (where i is the inclination of the
From: orbit).
http://www.obs- If the value of the inclination is
hp.fr/www/nouve
lles/gl876-fr.html
not known, we only calculate the least
possible mass of the planet [15]; but the
value of i, the inclination, is measurable with the aid of very precise astrometric
observations, because we have to measure the movement of the star relative to the
background sky.
This method is suitable only for the detection of massive planets and /or planets
orbiting closely to the parent star (with our current technology).
This is a list of working projects operating in the field of exoplanet search by the
method of Radial Velocity:
• Absolute Astronomical Accelerometer
EMILIE Spectrograph.
http://www.aero.jussieu.fr/experience/AAA/
Operating on the Observatoire de Haute-
Provence
• The Advanced Fiber-Optic Echelle (AFOE)
spectrometer
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/afoe/afoe.html
Operating on Whipple Observatory
• High resolution Echelle Spectrometer
Anglo Australian Planet Search
www.aao.gov.au
Figure 8 • California and Carnegie Planet
Diagram of the Doppler shift of spectral Search
lines from the star www.exoplanet.org
From: www.star.ucl.ac.uk/
~rhdt/diploma/lecture_2/ • Coralie at Leonard Euler Swiss
Telescope

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 Operating at La Silla
http://obswww.unige.ch/~udry/planet/coralie.html
• ELODIE is a fixed-configuration, cross-dispersed Echelle Spectrograph
http://obswww.unige.ch/~udry/planet/elodie.html
Operating on the Observatoire de Haute-Provence
• Exoplanet tracker with dispersed fixed-delay interferometer
http://www.astro.psu.edu./users/jian/project10
Operating at the KPNO 2.1m telescope
• Doppler planet search with Fringing spectrometer
http://www-phys.llnl.gov/H_Div/doppler/
• High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planetary Search (HARPS)
http://obswww.unige.ch/Instruments/harps/Welcome.html
Operating at La Silla Observatory 3.6m ESO Telescope
• Hobby Eberly Telescope
http://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/research/ss.html
Operating at Mc Donald Observatory
• TNG High Resolution Spectrograph
http://www.pd.astro.it/new_sites/ESP/resultspage.htm#Risultato%20metallicita%20binarie
Operating at Telescopio Nazionale Galileo
• Spectrographe pour l´observation des Phenomenes Sismologiques et Exoplanetaires
(SOPHIE)
http://www.obs-hp.fr/www/technique/sophie/sophie.htm
Operating on the Observatoire de Haute-Provence
• Extrasolar Planet Search Project
http://www.spectrashift.com/
• Ultra Violet Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES)
http://www.eso.org/instruments/uves/
Operating at ESO

Astrometry

Astrometry is the field of Astronomy

which is interested to measure the position of a
star respect to some reference frame. With this in
mind, it is possible to detect a planet revolving
around a star by accurately measuring the position
of the star respect to some other background stars
[9]. This is because in a planetary system, the star
gravity maintains the planet in orbit, but the planet
also pushes the star with a force proportional to its

Figure 9
Diagram of the displacement of the movement of
the star caused by a planet orbiting it.
From: www.star.ucl.ac.uk/
~rhdt/diploma/lecture_2/

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mass and the distance to the star (Figure 9). If the plane of the orbit is perpendicular to our
line of sight (or with a small inclination) it is possible to see measure the star wobble. The
star is oscillating, respect to the reference “fixed” stars with a period equal to the orbital
period of the planet. Knowing the period, it is possible to calculate the semimajor axis of
the orbit and the mass of the planet.
Even when this method can be used to confirm detections made with other methods,
the only one that can be used to confirm a detection made by astrometry is the direct
imaging. This is because the planet is always aside of the star, like a double star system.
Some suspected exoplanets were detected y this method, but they are not confirmed
yet.
It is very difficult to detect a planet this way from ground because the atmospheric
turbulence reduce the resolution of the telescope, but new telescope technologies, like
optical interferometry and adaptive optics, may improve the probability to find planets. The
best result will be achieved from space (see Space based detection methods and projects).
There are a few projects, not operating yet, forwarded to exoplanet searching:
• Keck Interferometer
http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu
• Palomar Testbed Interferometer
http://huey.jpl.nasa.gov/palomar/
• Phase-Referenced Imaging and Micro-arcsecond Astrometry PRIMA
http://www.eso.org/projects/vlti/instru/prima/index_prima.html
• ESO-VLT
Single Telescope Extrasolar Planet Survey STEPS
http://huey.jpl.nasa.gov

Pulsar timing

After a supernova explosion event,

the star collapses and forms a neutron star.
This neutron star has a very intense
magnetic field but not aligned with the
spin axis, this misalignment produces
beamed radio pulses (hence the name of
pulsar); if the rotation axis is toward our
line of sight we can detect those pulses.
The radio pulses emitted are very constant
(but in a large timescale, the frequency
slowly decay), so if a planet or another star
is revolving around the pulsar, the effect is
a change in the pulse repetition rate
Figure 10 (Figure 10), which depends on the orbital
Pulse repetition rate from a pulsar orbited period of the planet. This is relatively easy
by a planet changes to measure with modern radiotelescopes.
From:
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/alex/pulsar_ Basically, we need a very precise
planets_text.html reference timer, like atomic clocks, to
compare it with the pulse repetition rates

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of a millisecond pulsar.
pulsar.
A few planets were discovered by this method, but it holds two records: the oldest
and the farthest planet detected [14],[18],[19].
This is a list of projects, working or under test, in the pulsar timing planet search:
• Pulsar Planet Detection
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/alex/pulsar_planets.htm
Operating at Penn. State University
• Nancay Decametric search for Exoplanets
Under test on Nancay Radiotelescope
• Low Frequency Array LOFAR
http://www.lofar.org/
Project

Gravitational micro lensing

The Theory of Relativity formulated by Einstain at

Figure 11
Diagram of the microlensing effect
From:
http://www.macalester.edu/astronomy
/courses/physics50/spring2002.html
the beginning of the XX century, forecast the
lensing effect. It consists of the deviation of light
from a distance source when passing close to a
massive object (Figure 11 and 12) due to the gravity
of the interfering object. More massive the object,
between the source and the observer, more deviated
is the light.
With this in mind, astronomers tried to
detect exoplanets when they pass in front of the
parent star. This implies that the orbit plane is
parallel to our line of sight.
This method is capable to detect planets with
mass of several Jupiter mass and as low as the Earth
mass, even if the planet is orbiting at distances from
1 to 4 astronomical units from the star. This
technique is the best for the search of exoplanets
from ground based telescopes because is the only
one capable to detect Earth mass objects.
The lensing effect may be very large as
we see for the MACHO (Massive Compact Halo
Objects) 98-BLG-35 (figure 13), the planet in
that system is also the smallest encountered yet,
with an approximate mass of 4x10e-5 star
masses.

Figure 12
Amplification effect of the light from the
star due to the microlensing
microlensing phenomenon
From: http://www.nd.edu/~srhie/MPS/

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 Another very interesting case is the
planetary detection in multiple star systems.
This technique is also unique for detecting
planets in binary and multiple star systems.
If the orbit is inclined (not parallel to
our line of sight) more than the lensing zone,
this technique is not usable.

Figure 13
Highest microlensing effect detected
to date.
From: Rhie S.H., et al, 1999

These are some projects in the field of microlensing planet search:

• Hungarian Automated Telescope Network (HATN)
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~gbakos/HAT/Net/main.html
Operating at Whipple Observatory
• MACHO project
http://wwwmacho.mcmaster.ca/
Operating in Australia and North America
• Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics MOA
http://www.physics.auckland.ac.nz/moa/
Operating in Australia and Japan
• Microlensing Planet Search Project
http://www.nd.edu/~srhie/MPS/
National Science Foundation
• The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment OGLE
http://sirius.astrouw.edu.pl/~ogle/
Operating on Las Campanas Observatory
• Microlensing Transits Doppler Tomography
http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~yt2/WEB_GROUP/top.html
Operating at University of St. Andrews

Transit Photometry

This technique is based on the precise measurement of the star luminosity. If the star
is not a variable star, its luminosity is constant, but if a planet pass in front of it, eclipsing
the star, the luminosity decrease by an amount of 0.01% to 5 %. This occurs only if the
planetary orbit is aligned with our line of sight or the inclination is very low.
The amount of the luminosity reduction [45],[47] depends on the diameters of both
the star and the planet transiting in front of the star. The duration of the eclipse depends on
the mass of the star and on the distance of the planet from it (orbital semimajor axis). If the
observation is made also by a spectroscopic technique, it is possible to calculate the mass

10
and the size of the star. The period of one revolution of the planet is the time elapsed from
an eclipse to another one. Detecting the repetition of these eclipses is the best proof of the
reality of the phenomenon.

Photometric measurements
mast be done with high accuracy
because a change of 0.01 magnitudes is
very hard to detect. With modern CCD
devices and good photometric data
reduction software, even a skilled
amateur, with a medium aperture
telescope (8 to 12 inch diameter) can
do a scientific useful work or may
discover a new planet.
In the figure 14 we see a planet
eclipsing a star. The light from the star
Figure 14 decrease as the planet passes in front of it.
Diagram of a planet transiting in front of a
star A combination of this method with the
From: spectroscopic analysis of the light from the
http//:iac.es/proyect/tep/transitmet.html star when the planet is transiting, may in the
future, show the chemical composition of the
planetary atmosphere, if it exists, and also if there are the signature of biological activities.
As well as the microlensing method, this is suitable for the detection of small
planets tens of times the Earth mass and, possibly in the near future, also a terrestrial type
planet.
A real plot of a light curve is visible in
figure 15. It is from data of the Hubble
Space Telescope (HST), from the ground it
is not possible to get a light curve as clean
as that.
These are some operating and
future development issued to the
observation of transiting planets:
• TennesseeState/ Smithsonian
Automatic Photoelectric Telescope
http://schwab.tsuniv.edu/index.html
Operating at Fairborn Observatory
• Transit Search
Figure 15 http://www.transitsearch.org/
Light curve of the star
HD209458 observed by the Operating
HST. • Vulcan South
From: http://www.polartransits.org/
http://reductionism.net.sea
nic.net/HD209458/ExoPlane Operating at Antarctica
t.html • Permanent All Sky survey PASS
http://www.iac.es/proyect/pass/
Project

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 • The Monitoring Network of Telescopes MONET
http://www.uni-sw.gwdg.de/~hessman/MONET/
Project
• Hungarian Automated Telescope Network
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~gbakos/HAT/Net/main.html
Project
• Search For Trojan Extrasolar planets
http://www.trojanplanets.appstate.edu/Intro.htm
Project
• Stellar Astrophysics & Research on Exoplanets STARE
http://www.hao.ucar.edu/public/research/stare/stare.html
Project
• STELLA
http://www.aip.de./stella/
Project

Direct Imaging detection

The most challenging method to

planetary detection is the direct image because
the difference in luminosity between the
planet and the parent star is in the order of
millions to billions. The angular distance of
the planet from the star is so small that is in
the order of fractions of arcseconds.
Figure 1 is an example of the results
achieved by this technique; it is the first
picture of a planet outside our Solar System.
The light emitted by the planet is the
Figure 16 reflected light from the parent star [48], it is
The VLT complex of 4 8 m telescopes of
ESO, their light can be combined forming well visible only when it is in the “full” phase,
an optical interferometer that is when it is behind the star. This method of
From: www.astrosurf.com/ lombry/astro- detection works best if the planetary orbit is
outils2.htm
inclined respect to our line of sight. In this case
it is visible for most of the orbit, but the planet present phases (just like the inner planets of
our solar System Mercury and Venus) that depends on the tilt of the plane of the orbit.
It is very difficult to detect a planet with mass less than several times the mass of
Jupiter.
The observations in the middle infrared are more effective because the difference in
luminosity is much less than they are in the visible. This is the approach followed by most
projects in this field; obviously the best place to do this kind of research is from Antarctica,
but the results obtained by the ESO VLT (Figure 16) are very impressive.
The future of this detection method is the use of optical interferometers (Figure 17)
and the nulling technique [50]. The latter is based on the shifting of the phase of one
element an amount equal to half wavelength to cancel the light at the center of the image.

12
This way the star became just a point and it is possible to see a planet or a protoplanetary
disk.
Figure 17 This is a list of projects
The scheme of an
optical interferometer working toward the
From: detection and direct
www.astrosurf.com/ imaging of exoplanets:
lombry/astro-
outils2.htm

• Very Large Telescope Interferometer

VLTI
http://www.eso.org/projects/vlti/
Operating at ESO
• Astronomical Nulling Interferometer ANI

http://zero.as.arizona.edu/~phinz/nulling.html
Project
• Mid-InfraRed Large-well Imager MIRLIN
http://cougar.jpl.nasa.gov/mirlin.html
Operating at Palomar and Keck II telescopes

Space based detection methods and projects

Just 30 years ago, our knowledge of the Solar
System was very poor and the interest on the observation
of planets and their satellites were dissipated because the
power of telescopes were not sufficient to shows more
than that we know.
The construction of giant telescopes, optical
interferometers, adaptive optics and super sensitive
megapixels CCD were just a dream.
Figure 18 The race for the space conquest, changed
Hubble Space Telescope
From: dramatically that attitude, and astronomers gets new
dreams: a telescope in space and spacecrafts to planets
http://oposite.stsci.edu/ftp/pubi
nfo/HST/HST_FREE.JPG became true in just a few years.
Missions like Mariner, Pioneer, Viking, and
Galileo uncovered many secret of the planets and their satellites, opening a new great
interest in our Solar System.
Very soon, thanks to the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1995, astronomers
started to plan space missions with the aim to uncover the planetary formation secrets and
discover many other planetary systems in our Galaxy and, eventually, life!
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) (Figure 18) and the Hipparcos placed the basis
for the future space based researches. The former because without the atmospheric
aberration shows a completely new Universe discovering the first steps of stars and
planetary systems formation. With the precision of the astrometric measurement of the

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Hipparcos satellite, astronomers will be able to measure very small movement of the stars,
revealing the presence of planets revolving around them.
I will show in this section only the approved satellite missions (Table 1), briefly
describing their scientific goals related to the exoplanet search. There are a lot more
missions waiting for approval or under a feasibility study stage.

Table 1
Detection methods used by satellites for the search of exoplanets

DETECTION METHOD SATELLITE

Transit Photometry COROT
Astrometry GAIA
Astrometry HST
IR imaging JWST
Transit Photometry KEPLER
Imaging Photometry MOST
Astrometry/Imaging SIM
IR Imaging SPITZER

COROT Convection Rotation and Planetary Transit

Figure 19
Artistic impression of COROT
From: http://www.astrsp-
mrs.fr/images/satel.gif
( http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/corot.html ) (Figure 19) is a
French developed and funded mission with the
participation of Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Spain,
ESA and ESTEC.
The science project consists of stellar seismology and the
study of extrasolar planets with a 30 cm telescope
coupled to an array of CCD detectors. It will monitor
light curves of selected stars trying to find planets in the
Habitable Zone.
It is the first approved space mission dedicated to these
subjects and it will be launched in June 2006.

Figure 20
ESA GAIA spacecraft
From:
http://www.rssd.esa.int/gaia/i
mage_gallery.html
GAIA
(http://sci.esa.int/science-
e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=26 ) (Figure 20) is an
ESA mission for creating a three dimensional catalog of
all objects in the Galaxy with an unprecedented positional
and radial velocity. The goal is to get data from 10e9 stars
during a period of 5 years, monitoring each object 100
times. It contains 170 CCD cameras with 9 Mpixels each.
It will discover planets and brown dwarfs.
It will be launched in 2011 and will be doing observations
from the L2 point at 1.5 million Km from Earth.

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 HST ASTROMETRY
( http://clyde.as.utexas.edu/SpAstNEW/ASTindex.html )
Figure 21
The Fine Guidance Sensor Camera of the
HST
From:
http://www.stsci.edu/instruments/fgs/handb
ook/FGS.Cycle11.IHB.pdf

It is a University of Texas program aimed to do precise

astrometric measurements of selected objects using the
Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor camera (Figure 21). In addition to variable
star studies it was used to search for exoplanets around Proxima Cen.

JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE JWST

( http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/ ) it is a NASA optimized
infrared space telescope to be launched in 2011 and will
be stationary in the L” point of the Earth orbit at 1.5
million km from Earth (Figure 22). The principal
instrument will be a 6.5 m IR telescope for wavelength
between 6 and 22 micron. The operating temperature will
be 50K.
The scientific goal is the study of the formation of the
Universe and the planetary systems formation.
Figure 22
Artistic impression of the JWST
From: www.coseti.org/hst-
jwst.htm

KEPLER
(http://discovery.nasa.gov/kepler.html ) is a NASA mission
(figure 23) specifically designed for exploring the structure
of extrasolar planetary systems and to detect Earth mass
planets within the Habitable Zone. Its main instrument will
be a photometer with a 95 cm lend diameter. Kepler will
monitor 100 thousand Sun-like stars detecting transiting
planets. It is programmed for launching in 2007.

Figure 23
Artistic impresión of Kepler satellite
From:
http://discovery.nasa.gov/kepler.html

15
 MOST Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars
( http://www.astro.ubc.ca/MOST/ )
Figure 24
Canadian MOST satellite
From:
http://www.astro.ubc.ca/MOST/media_p
ack/most_view.jpg

It is a tiny Canadian space telescope satellite (65x65x30

cm) with a 15 cm telescope measuring small luminosity
variations (one part in a million) from a selected catalog of stars up to the 6th magnitude. It
will detect the reflected light from exoplanets orbiting very closely to the parent star to
study their sizes and atmospheric composition. It was launched in 2003 and it is still
operating in a polar orbit.
SIM Space Interferometry Mission
( http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/SIM/sim_project.html )
Figure 25
Artist concept of SIM
From:
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/images/sim
_concept2002_lrg.jpg

Is a NASA mission to be launched in 2009 (Figure 25).

It is an astrometric satellite capable to measure the position of the 250 nearest stars to a
precision of 1 microarcsecond and of 3 microarcseconds for the next 2000 stars. With this
precision it will be able to discover Neptune and Jupiter sized planets around Sun-like stars.
Another goal is the study of Hot Jupiter-like planets around young stars to understand how
planetary systems are formed. The principal instrument is an optical interferometer with a
10 m diameter for science and an 8,5 m diameter mirror for the guidance. Both mirrors are
optimized for the visible part of the EM spectrum. The stability of the fringes will be better
than 1/100 of wavelength, the same as the VLA, but for the visible.

SPITZER IR Space Telescope

( http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/index.shtml )
is a NASA space telescope for the IR part of
the EM spectrum Figure 26). It was launched
in 2003 and still operating. The telescope is
Figure 26
The Spitzer IR space telescope
From:
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/picturega
llery/galleryimages/model2.jpg

0.85 m diameter optimized for the Infra red spectrum between 3 and 180 micron
wavelength and the instruments are cryogenically cooled to near absolute zero. The
telescope is protected by a shield. It is observing from a Earth trailing solar orbit. It will be

16
used to study the origin and composition of planets, in special case the protoplanetary disk
around stars and dust clouds.

Catalogue of known exoplanets

The Table 2 is divided in two sections. Table 2a contains: Planet name, parent star,
Constellation, Year of discovery and Orbital radius. Table 2b contains: Planet name, Period,
K m/s, Parent star mass, eccentricity, R.A. (2000) and DECL. (2000). These tables are a
recompilation and an integration of several tables found over the WEB about exoplanets
characteristics. They contain all planets detected until now. Unfortunately, this is not an
official catalogue, I found many differences in the data presented by various catalogues and
not all field are filled because some data I was not able to find yet
[39],[40],[41],[42],[43],[44].

Table 2a
List of all exoplanet confirmed until now

Orbital
Planet Star Constellation Year Discovered By
Radius
HD 114762 b HD 114762 Coma Berenices 1989 David Latham et al, 0.3 AU
PSR 1257 a PSR 1257 1991 Alexander Wolszczan 0.19 AU
PSR 1257 b PSR 1257 1991 Alexander Wolszczan 0.36 AU
PSR 1257 c PSR 1257 1994 0.46 AU
PSR 1257 d PSR 1257 1994 40 AU
51 Pegasi b 51 Pegasi Pegasus 1995 Michel Mayor and Did 0.05 AU
Upsilon
Upsilon Andromedae b Andromedae 1996 Geoffrey Marcy and R 0.05 AU
Andromedae
55 Cancri b 55 Cancri Cancer 1996 San Francisco State 0.118 AU
47 Ursae Majoris b 47 Ursae Majoris Ursa Major 1996 University of Califo 2.1 AU
0.0462
tau Boo tau Bootis Bootes 1996 San Francisco State
AU
70 Virginis b 70 Virginis Virgo 1996 San Francisco State 0.43 AU
rho Coronae
rho CrB Corona Borealis 1997 Smithsonian Astrophy 0.23 AU
Borealis
16 Cygni b 16 Cygni Cygnus 1997 San Francisco State 1.7 AU
HD 217107 b HD 217107 Pisces 1998 Keck and Lick Observ 0.07 AU
HD 210277 b HD 210277 Aquarius 1998 Keck Observatory 1.097 AU
HD 187123 b HD 187123 Cygnus 1998 Keck Observatory 0.042 AU
Gliese 876 b Gliese 876 Aquarius 1998 Haute-Provence 0.21 AU
HD 195019 HD 195019 Delphinus 1998 Keck and Lick observ 0.14 AU
HD 168443 b HD 168443 Serpens 1998 Keck and Lick observ 0.29 AU
HD 168443 c HD 168443 Serpens 1998 Keck and Lick observ 2.87 AU
14 Herculis b 14 Herculis 1998 Haute-Provence Obser 2.5 AU
HD 209458 b HD 209458 Pegasus 1999 San Francisco State 0.045 AU
HD 192263 b HD 192263 Aquila 1999 Keck Precision Veloc 0.15 AU
HD 37124 b HD 37124 Taurus 1999 Keck Precision Veloc 0.585 AU
HD 130322 b HD 130322 Virgo 1999 Geneva Observatory 0.088 AU
HD 177830 b HD 177830 Taurus 1999 Keck Precision Veloc 1 AU
HD 134987 b HD 134987 Libra 1999 Keck Precision Veloc 0.78 AU
HR 810 b HR 810 Horologium 1999 ESO La Silla observa 0.925 AU
Upsilon
Upsilon Andromedae c Andromedae 1999 San Francisco State 0.83 AU
Andromedae
Upsilon
Upsilon Andromedae d Andromedae 1999 San Francisco State 2.5 AU
Andromedae
HD 222582 b HD 222582 Aquarius 1999 Keck Observatory 1.35 AU

17
 HD 10697 b HD 10697 Andromeda 1999 Keck Precision Veloc 2 AU
HD 83443 b HD 83443 Vela 2000 Geneva Observatory 0.038 AU
HD 16141 b HD 16141 Cetus 2000 Marcy G., Butler P., 0.35 AU
HD 168746 b HD 168746 Scrutum 2000 Geneva Observatory 0.066 AU
HD 46375 b HD 46375 Monoceros 2000 Marcy G., Butler P., 0.041 AU
HD 108147 b HD 108147 Crux 2000 Geneva southern extr 0.098 AU
HD 75289 b HD 75289 Vela 2000 CORALIE survey for s 0.046 AU
BD -10 3166 b BD -10 3166 Crater 2000 California Planet Se 0.046 AU
HD 6434 b HD 6434 Phoenix 2000 0.015 AU
Epsilon Eridani b Epsilon Eridani Eridanus 2000 McDonald Observatory 3.3 AU
0.1293
HD 38529 b HD 38529 Orion 2000 San Francisco State
AU
HD 179949 b HD 179949 Sagittarius 2000 Anglo-Australian Pla 0.045 AU
HD 82943 b HD 82943 Hydra 2000 CORALIE survey for s 1.16 AU
HD 121504 b HD 121504 Centaurus 2000 CORALIE survey for s 0.32 AU
HD 52265 b HD 52265 Monoceros 2000 Geneva Observatory 0.49 AU
HD 27442 b HD 27442 Reticulum 2000 Anglo-Australian Pla 1.18 AU
HD 160691 b HD 160691 Ara 2000 Anglo-Australian Pla 1.65 AU
HD 19994 b HD 19994 Cetus 2000 Geneva Observatory 1.3 AU
HD 92788 b HD 92788 Sextans 2000 San Francisco State 0.94 AU
HD 12661 b HD 12661 Aries 2000 San Francisco State 0.789 AU
HD 169830 b HD 169830 Sagittarius 2000 ESO La Silla Observa 0.823 AU
GJ 3021 b GJ 3021 Hydrus 2000 0.49 AU
Gliese 86 b Gliese 86 Eridanis 2000 La Silla Observatory 0.11 AU
HD 190228 b HD 190228 Vulpecula 2000 Geneva Observatory 2.31 AU
HD 89744 b HD 89744 Ursa Major 2000 Advanced Fiber-Optic 0.88 AU
HD 162020 b HD 162020 2000 ESO La Silla Observa 0.072 AU
HD 4208 b HD 4208 Sculptor 2001 Keck Precision Veloc 1.69 AU
HD 82943 c HD 82943 Hydra 2001 Geneva Observatory 0.73 AU
HD 114783 b HD 114783 Virgo 2001 Keck Precision Veloc 1.2 AU
HD 142 b HD 142 Phoenix 2001 Anglo-Australian Pla 0.98 AU
HD 4203 b HD 4203 Pisces 2001 Keck Precision Veloc 1.09 AU
HD 68988 b HD 68988 Ursa Major 2001 Keck Precision Veloc 0.071 AU
HD 213240 b HD 213240 Grus 2001 Geneva Observatory 1.6 AU
47 Ursae Majoris c 47 Ursae Majoris Ursa Major 2001 University of Califo 3.73 AU
HD 23079 b HD 23079 Reticulum 2001 Anglo-Australian Pla 1.48 AU
HD 80606 b HD 80606 Ursa Major 2001 ESO La Silla Observa 0.439 AU
HD 28185 b HD 28185 Eridanus 2001 CORALIE survey for s 1 AU
HD 178911 b HD 178911 Lyra 2001 Geneva Observatory 0.32 AU
HD 106252 b HD 106252 Virgo 2001 Geneva Observatory 2.61 AU
HD 33636 b HD 33636 Orion 2001 Keck Precision Veloc 2.62 AU
HD 39091 b HD 39091 Mensa 2001 Anglo-Australian Pla 3.34 AU
HD 141937 b HD 141937 Libra 2001 Geneva Observatory 1.49 AU
Iota Draconis b Iota Draconis Draco 2002 Lick Observatory
HD 41004A b HD 41004A Phoenix 2002 Geneva Observatory 1.3 AU
European Southern
HD 47536 b HD 47536 Canis Major 2002
Observatory
HD 136118 b HD 136118 2002 Lick Observatory 2.335 AU
HD 160691 c HD 160691 Ara 2002 Anglo-Australian Pla 2.3 AU
0.0568
HD 49674 b HD 49674 2002 Keck Observatory
AU
HD 108874 b HD 108874 2002 1.07 AU
HD 128311 b HD 128311 2002 Keck Observatory 1.01 AU
HD 72659 b HD 72659 2002 Keck Observatory 3.24 AU
HD 40979 b HD 40979 2002 Lick and Keck observ 0.818 AU
HD 114386 b HD 114386 2002 Geneva Observatory 1.62 AU
HD 150706 b HD 150706 2002 Geneva Observatory 0.82 AU
HD 147513 b HD 147513 2002 Geneva Observatory 1.26 AU

18
 HD 20367 b HD 20367 2002 Geneva Observatory 1.25 AU
HD 30177 b HD 30177 2002 Anglo-Australian Obs 2.6 AU
HD 196050 b HD 196050 2002 Anglo-Australian Obs 2.5 AU
HD 23596 b HD 23596 2002 Geneva Observatory 2.72 AU
Gliese 777A b Gliese 777A 2002 Geneva Observatory 3.65 AU
55 Cancri c 55 Cancri Cancer 2002 Lick Observatory 0.24 AU
55 Cancri d 55 Cancri Cancer 2002 Lick Observatory 4.9 AU
HD 37124 c HD 37124 Taurus 2002 Keck Observatory 2.95 AU
HD 12661 c HD 12661 Aries 2002 Keck and Lick observ 2.61 AU
HD 38529 c HD 38529 Orion 2002 Keck and Lick observ 3.51 AU
HD 114729 b HD 114729 2002 Keck Observatory 2.08 AU
HD 216437 b HD 216437 2002 Anglo-Australian Tel 2.7 AU
HD 73526 b HD 73526 2002 Anglo-Australian Pla 0.66 AU
HD 76700 b HD 76700 2002 Anglo-Australian Pla 0.049 AU
HD 2039 b HD 2039 2002 Anglo-Australian Pla 2.2 AU
Tau 1 Gruis b Tau 1 Gruis Grus (the crane 2002 Anglo-Australian Pla 2.5 AU
gamma Cephei b gamma Cephei Cepheus 2002 McDonald Observatory 2.1 AU
Alice Quillen, University of
Epsilon Eridani c Epsilon Eridani Eridanus 2002
Roches
HD 216770 b HD 216770 Pegasus 2003 Geneva Observatory 0.46 AU
HD 104985 b HD 104985 Draco 2003 Okayama Astrophysica 0.78 AU
HD 70642 b HD 70642 Puppis 2003 Anglo-Australian Tel 3.3 AU
HD 3651 b HD 3651 Pegasus 2003 California & Carnegi 0.284 AU
0.0225
OGLE-TR 56 OGLE-TR-56 Sagittarius 2003 Harvard-Smithsonian
AU
HD 73256 b HD 73256 Canis Major 2003 CORALIE survey for e 0.037 AU
HD 10647 b HD 10647 Phoenix 2003 Geneva Observatory 2.1 AU
HD 111232 b HD 111232 Musca 2003 Geneva Observatory 2.07 AU
Gliese 876 c Gliese 876 Aquarius Unknown 0.13 AU
HD 142415 b HD 142415 Unknown Coralie Survey 1.05 AU
HD 169830 c HD 169830 Sagittarius Unknown Coralie Survey for E 3.6 AU
HD 219449 b HD 219449 Aquarius Unknown Lick Observatory 0.3 AU
HD 330075 b HD 330075 Unknown HARPS 0.044 AU
HD 37605 b HD 37605 Unknown McDonald Observatory 0.26 AU
HD 50554 b HD 50554 Gemini Unknown Geneva Observatory 2.38 AU
HD 59686 b HD 59686 Unknown Lick Observatory 0.8 AU
HD 65216 b HD 65216 Unknown Coralie Survey for E 1.37 AU
HD 74156 b HD 74156 Hydra Unknown Geneva Observatory 0.276 AU
HD 74156 c HD 74156 Hydra Unknown Geneva Observatory 4.47 AU
HD 8574 b HD 8574 Pisces Unknown Geneva Observatory 0.76 AU
OGLE 2003-BLG-
235/MOOGLE 2003- Microlensing Observations in
Unknown
BLG-235/MOA 2003- Astrophysics
BLG-53
0.0228
OGLE-TR-113 b OGLE-TR-113 Unknown Las Campanas Observa
AU
OGLE-TR-132 b OGLE-TR-132 Unknown OGLE (Optical Gravit 1.15 AU
GSC 02652-
TrES-1 Unknown 0.003 AU
01324

19
 Table 2b

Mstar
Planet Orbit Period K (m/s) e RAh RAm RAs dec D ‘ “
(suns)
HD 114762 b 84.03 616.7 0.82 0.334 13 12 21 + 17 31 01
PSR 1257 a 25.262 13 00 01 + 12 40 00
PSR 1257 b 66.5 0.1 13 00 01 + 12 40 00
PSR 1257 c 98.2 0.02 13 00 01 + 12 40 00
PSR 1257 d 62050 13 00 01 + 12 40 00
51 Pegasi b 4.23 55.0 1.06 0 22 57 27 + 20 46 04
Upsilon
4.62 10.2 1.30 0.034 01 36 48 + 41 24 38
Andromedae b
55 Cancri b 14.66 72.2 1.03 0.03 08 52 37 + 28 20 02
47 Ursae Majoris b 1095 49.3 1.03 0.096 10 59 29 + 40 25 46
tau Boo 3.3128 471.4 1.30 0.018 13 47 17 + 17 27 22
70 Virginis b 116.6 315.2 1.10 0.4 13 28 25 + 13 46 43
rho CrB 39.645 64.2 0.95 0.028 16 01 3 + 33 18 51
16 Cygni b 804 51.2 1.01 0.67 19 41 51 + 50 31 03
HD 217107 b 7.11 140.2 0.98 0.14 22 58 15 - 02 23 42
HD 210277 b 437 39.5 0.99 0.45 22 09 29 - 07 32 32
HD 187123 b 3.1 68.0 1.06 0.03 19 46 57 + 34 25 15
Gliese 876 b 61.02 210.0 0.32 0.27 22 53 13 - 14 15 13
HD 195019 18.3 271.4 1.02 0.05 20 28 17 + 18 46 12
HD 168443 b 57.9 472.7 1.01 0.54 18 20 04 - 09 35 34
HD 168443 c 2135 289.0 1.01 0.2 18 20 04 - 09 35 34
14 Herculis b 1650 0.326 16 10 23 + 43 49 18
HD 209458 b 3.52 86.5 1.05 0 22 03 10 + 18 53 04
HD 192263 b 24.4 50.5 0.79 0 20 13 59 - 00 52 00
HD 37124 b 155 28.8 0.91 0.19 05 37 02 + 20 43 50
HD 130322 b 10.724 0.048 14 47 32 - 00 16 53
HD 177830 b 391 37.7 1.17 0.43 19 05 20 + 25 55 14
HD 134987 b 260 49.3 1.05 0.25 15 13 28 - 25 18 33
HR 810 b 320.1 0.161 02 42 31 - 50 48 12
Upsilon
241.2 53.9 1.30 0.18 01 36 48 + 41 24 38
Andromedae c
Upsilon
1266.6 61.1 1.30 0.41 01 36 48 + 41 24 38
Andromedae d
HD 222582 b 576 191.3 1.00 0.71 23 41 51 - 05 59 08
HD 10697 b 1083 114.2 1.10 0.12 01 44 55 + 20 04 59
HD 83443 b 2.99 58.0 0.79 0.08 09 37 11 - 43 16 19
HD 16141 b 75.8 11.2 1.00 0.28 02 35 19 - 03 33 38
HD 168746 b 6.409 27.0 0.92 0 18 21 49 - 11 55 21
HD 46375 b 3.024 34.5 1.00 0 06 33 12 + 05 27 46
HD 108147 b 10.9 27.3 1.20 0.558 12 25 46 - 64 01 19
HD 75289 b 3.51 53.5 1.15 0.054 08 47 40 - 41 44 12
BD -10 3166 b 3.487 59.9 1.10 0 10 58 28 - 10 46 13
HD 6434 b 22.09 37.0 0.99 0.3 01 04 40 - 39 29 17
Epsilon Eridani b 2502.1 0.608 03 32 55 - 09 27 29
HD 38529 b 14.41 54.7 1.39 0.28 05 46 34 + 01 10 05
HD 179949 b 3.093 118.0 1.24 0.05 19 15 33 - 24 10 45
HD 82943 b 444.6 46.0 1.05 0.41 09 34 50 - 12 07 46
HD 121504 b 64.6 45.0 1.02 0.13 13 57 17 - 56 02 24
HD 52265 b 118.96 38.8 1.13 0.29 07 00 18 - 05 22 01
HD 27442 b 423 30.7 1.20 0.02 04 16 29 - 59 18 07
HD 160691 b 743 42.8 1.08 0.62 17 44 08 - 51 50 02
HD 19994 b 454 45.0 1.35 0.2 03 12 46 - 01 11 45
HD 92788 b 340 98.6 1.07 0.36 10 42 48 - 02 11 01
HD 12661 b 264.5 75.0 1.07 0.33 02 04 34 + 25 24 51
HD 169830 b 230.4 83.0 1.40 0.34 18 27 49 - 29 49 00
GJ 3021 b 133.82 0.505 00 16 12 - 79 51 04
Gliese 86 b 15.78 375.9 0.86 0.046 02 10 14 - 50 50 00
HD 190228 b 1127 90.0 1.20 0.43 20 03 00 + 28 18 24
HD 89744 b 256 275.3 1.40 0.7 10 22 10 + 41 13 46
HD 162020 b 8.4 813.0 0.70 0.277 17 50 38 - 40 19 06
HD 4208 b 829 18.2 0.93 0.04 00 44 26 - 26 30 56
HD 82943 c 221.6 34.0 1.05 0.54 09 34 50 - 12 07 46

20
 HD 114783 b 501 28.5 0.92 0.1 13 12 43 - 02 15 54
HD 142 b 338 31.6 1.10 0.37 00 06 19 - 49 04 30
HD 4203 b 406 49.3 1.06 0.53 00 44 41 + 20 26 56
HD 68988 b 6.276 189.7 1.20 0.14 08 18 22 + 61 27 38
HD 213240 b 759 91.0 1.22 0.31 22 31 00 - 49 25 59
47 Ursae Majoris c 2594 11.1 1.03 0.1 10 59 29 + 40 25 46
HD 23079 b 627.3 55.3 1.10 0.06 03 39 43 - 52 54 57
HD 80606 b 111.78 411.0 0.90 0.927 09 22 37 + 50 36 13
HD 28185 b 385 161.0 0.99 0.06 04 26 26 - 10 33 02
HD 178911 b 71.487 343.0 0.90 0.1243 19 09 03 + 34 35 59
HD 106252 b 1500 150.4 0.96 0.54 12 13 29 + 10 02 29
HD 33636 b 1553 164.5 0.99 0.39 05 11 46 + 04 24 12
HD 39091 b 2115.3 196.9 1.10 0.62 05 37 09 - 80 28 08
HD 141937 b 658.8 234.5 1.00 0.4 15 52 17 - 18 26 09
Iota Draconis b 547.5 0.7 15 24 55 + 58 57 57
HD 41004A b 655 74.0 0.70 0.39 05 59 49 - 48 14 22
HD 47536 b 712.13 0.2 06 37 47 - 32 20 23
HD 136118 b 1209.6 212.9 1.24 0.366 15 18 55 - 01 35 32
HD 160691 c 1300 0.8 17 44 8 - 51 50 02
HD 49674 b 4.948 13.1 1.00 0 06 51 30 + 40 52 03
HD 108874 b 401 49.6 1.01 0.2 12 30 26 + 22 52 47
HD 128311 b 414 84.9 0.80 0.21 14 36 00 + 09 44 47
HD 72659 b 2185 42.3 0.95 0.18 08 34 03 - 01 34 5
HD 40979 b 260 108.0 1.08 0.26 06 04 29 + 44 15 37
HD 114386 b 872 27.0 0.75 0.28 13 10 39 - 35 03 17
HD 150706 b 264 33.0 0.98 0.38 16 31 17 + 79 47 23
HD 147513 b 540.4 31.0 0.92 0.52 16 24 01 - 39 11 34
HD 20367 b 500 29.0 1.12 0.23 03 17 40 + 31 07 37
HD 30177 b 1620 142.2 0.95 0.22 04 41 54 - 58 01 14
HD 196050 b 1289 48.5 1.10 0.28 20 37 51 - 60 38 04
HD 23596 b 1558 126.0 1.29 0.314 03 48 00 + 40 31 50
Gliese 777A b 2613 20 03 37 + 29 53 48
55 Cancri c 44.28 13.0 1.03 0.34 08 52 37 + 28 20 02
55 Cancri d 5360 49.3 1.03 0.16 08 52 37 + 28 20 02
HD 37124 c 1942 32.4 0.91 0.4 05 37 02 + 20 43 50
HD 12661 c 1407 27.0 1.07 0.224 02 04 34 + 25 24 51
HD 38529 c 2189.5 169.1 1.39 0.34 05 46 34 + 01 10 05
HD 114729 b 1136 17.6 0.93 0.33 13 12 44 - 31 52 24
HD 216437 b 1294 37.5 1.07 0.34 22 54 39 - 70 04 25
HD 73526 b 190.5 114.8 1.02 0.34 08 37 16 - 41 19 08
HD 76700 b 4 25.0 1.00 0 08 53 55 - 66 48 03
HD 2039 b 1190 127.8 0.98 0.69 00 24 20 - 56 39 00
Tau 1 Gruis b 22 53 37 - 48 35 53
gamma Cephei b 903 0.2 23 39 20 + 77 37 56
Epsilon Eridani c 102200 03 32 55 - 09 27 29
HD 216770 b 118.3 33.0 0.90 0.32 22 55 53 + 26 39 31
HD 104985 b 198.2 0.0 1.50 0.03 12 05 15 + 76 54 20
HD 70642 b 2231 32.0 1.00 0.1 08 21 28 - 39 42 19
HD 3651 b 62.23 15.9 0.79 0.63 00 39 21 + 21 15 01
OGLE-TR 56 1.2119 17 56 35 - 29 32 21
HD 73256 b 2.5486 267.0 1.05 0.038 08 36 23 - 30 02 15
HD 10647 b 1056 0.32 01 42 29 - 53 44 27
HD 111232 b 1138 168.0 0.78 0.25 12 48 51 - 68 25 30
Gliese 876 c 30.1 81.0 0.32 0.27 22 53 13 - 14 15 13
HD 142415 b 386.3 52.0 1.03 15 57 40 - 60 12 00
HD 169830 c 2102 36.0 1.40 0.33 18 27 49 - 29 49 00
HD 219449 b 182 23 15 53 - 09 05 15
HD 330075 b 3.37 15 49 37 - 49 57 48
HD 37605 b 54.23 0.737 05 40 01 + 06 03 38
HD 50554 b 1279 81.9 1.06 0.42 06 54 42 + 24 14 44
HD 59686 b 303 07 31 48 + 17 05 09
HD 65216 b 613.1 37.0 0.92 0.41 07 53 41 - 63 38 50
HD 74156 b 51.61 112.0 1.05 0.649 08 42 25 + 04 34 41
HD 74156 c 2300 125.0 1.05 0.359 08 42 25 + 04 34 41
HD 8574 b 228.8 64.0 1.10 0.4 01 25 12 + 28 34 00
OGLE 2003-BLG-
18 05 16 - 28 53 42
235/MOOGLE 2003-

21
 BLG-235/MOA
2003-BLG-53
OGLE-TR-113 b 1.4 0 10 52 24 - 61 26 48
OGLE-TR-132 b 1.7 10 50 34 - 61 57 25
TrES-1 3.03 00 00 00 + 00 00 00

Planetary system formation theories

Leucippus (480-420 BC) [1], some 2500 years ago, though about the formation of
the planets as follows: “The worlds come into being as follows: many bodies of all sorts
and shapes move from the infinite into a great void;
they come together there and produce a single whirl,
in which, colliding with one another and revolving in
all manner of ways, they begin to separate like to
like”. He was not too far from our actual theories.
But, in the past years, these theories were
brought on the carpet after the discovery of many
giant planets orbiting very close to the parent star, too
close to fit in our actual knowledge of the only one
Figure 27 planetary system under our eyes: our Solar System.
Protoplanetary disk in Orion
From: rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/ The conventional theory for the formation of our
Sect20/A11.html planetary system is based on a large dust and gas cloud
condensation. After some time, a series of events like
these might be occurred:
• Some perturbing event, like a supernova explosion or a shock wave from an
encounter with another gas cloud, produced the compression of some part of the
cloud.
• The gravity then, does the rest. Particles and gas continued to condense.
• As the density increase, the temperature goes warmer.
• The condensing cloud strart to rotate and after some times it begins to flattens.
• The density and the temperature of the inner part is growing rapidly and the disk
spins faster.
• The temperature and the density in the center are so high that can initiate a
thermonuclear process: the star is born.
• The star continues to rotate and to drag the disk material under its gravity.
• Dust particles and gas begins to condense at certain distance from the star. This
condensed cloud is called Protoplanetary disk (Figure 26).
• Giant gaseous and light planets might be formed in the outer part of the disk.
• Rocky, less massive but denser ones, in the inner part of the disk.
• Satellites, with some exceptions like the Moon and trapped asteroids, would be
formed by the same process and at the same time.
• After the formation, each planet stabilize itself in a circular, or very small eccentric,
orbit revolving around the central star in the same direction as the star rotate and the
protoplanetary disk does.
The reason to have small rocky planets in the inner part of a planetary system is
because the temperature in the inner part would be too high to let forming a gaseous planet
like Jupiter (light elements like Hydrogen and Helium would be expelled due to the

22
temperature). The quantity of available material would be too low to produce Jupiter like
giant planets. Heavy elements would be trapped in the inner part of the disk by gravity
On the opposite side of the disk, matter is too sparse and cold to coalesce and form
a rocky denser planet (Pluto is an exception in our Solar System). The quantity of material
available is too much to let forming giant planets. The quantity of light elements is much
more than the quantity of heavy elements, so giant Jupiter-like planets are almost gaseous,
maybe they have a little rocky nucleus.
This model was accepted and not contrasted for decades, but, in 1995, the evidence
demonstrates exactly the opposite: giant Jupiter like planets orbiting less than an AU from
the star and planets with very high eccentricity were found.
What is wrong? Maybe our simple and elegant theory needs a deep revision,
because it explains well the inner planets (Mercury to Mars) and Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus
and Neptune are too small and cold; and Pluto is very small and maybe rocky.
Recently a new theory appeared: the “Disk Instability”. According to this theory,
planets do not grow through accretion, but with a collapse directly from the disk, so they do
not needs a core. This might works well, because planets with any size can forms anywhere
in the disk, but it do not explain why giant gaseous planets are too close to the star and why
Uranus and Neptune are small. There is a “patch” to this theory. Our Sun, long time ago,
was an element of a binary or multiple star system. The companion star might be
photoevaporated Uranus and Neptune (they was much bigger, but the radiation from the
companion star heated the gases and blown them out). But where is that star? Why not
Saturn and Jupiter?
Another theory called the “Migration theory” try to explain the case of Hot Jupiters
(Jupiter like planets very close to the parent star) proposed in 1980 by Goldreich and
Tremaine. Basically it states that a giant planet is formed far from the star and then
migrates inward. The problem is to explain why the migration may initiate and how to stop
it; otherwise we can not see any planet around stars. The possible reasons for entering in
the migration process could be: gravitational drag, interaction with nearby star or
interaction with a large nearby planet. The possible mechanisms that may stops the
migration could be: running out of disk, magnetic fields interacting with the planet or tidal
interaction from the star locking the planet at some distance from the star.
We are observing protoplanetary disks around young stars (younger the star, densest
the disk) and not circling old stars. This implies that, if the migration is not stopped until
the disk dissipates, all planets were falling into the star and no planetary systems might
exist.

Conclusion
Our Solar System is not unique; there are a lot of stars with a planetary system in
the Galaxy.
The search for planets outside our Solar System is difficult because they are orbiting
very close to the star and their luminosity is millions of times lower than that of the parent
star.
The techniques developed for that search are pushing the actual technology to the
edge. They also helps to the development of new methods and to the design of instruments

23
capable of observing and measuring the physical properties of the newly discovered planets
and allow to the discovery of many more.
Each method employed has some benefits and some drawbacks because it is
designed to realize measurements of only one or a few properties of the exoplanet or the
system in which it resides.
If we want to know how the planets in the system behave, we have to observe them
with two or more techniques, because each one is capable to show us some details, but
never the full panorama.
Combining ground based observations with those made from space, we can be able
to detect many more planets, including Earth mass (or lower) planets. Space telescopes,
without, the atmospheric aberrations, can detect very fine details and even, in a near future,
determine if the planet has an atmosphere and which are its components, then , the next step,
will be the detection of biological activity with high resolution spectroscopy.
Until now the best method to detect exoplanet was the measurement of the Doppler
Shift of the light from the star orbited by one or more planets (radial velocity measurement).
This one, with the accurately determination of the position and the movement of the star
relative to other reference stars (astrometry) and the shift of the repetition rate of the pulses
from a Pulsar (Pulsar timing), are all indirect, this means that we do not see the planet, but
we knows it is there because we can measure the effect it exert on the parent star.
Microlensing and Transit are a more direct technique, because they measure the
change of the luminosity of the star. The combination of the two methods may lead to the
determination of the orbital parameters, and hence the mass of the planet. When a transit
occurs, the planet decreases the light from the star because it passes in front of it. A
microlensing effect occurs when the planet either behind or in front of the star.
The direct imaging detection is better when the planet is on one side of the star
because what we see is the reflected light.
If we are combining all methods to observe a star with planets, we can realize a full
orbit diagram.

The search for exoplanets is a new and growing field of Astronomy and
Astrophysics. As many extrasolar planetary systems are discovered, refinements of the
actual theories about their formation, evolution and ends, must be done.
All theories must explain our solar System as well as all other extrasolar planetary
systems. Actually each one may explain some part of the solar System and in part some
other planetary system, it is necessary to discover many new systems and study them
statistically. Maybe each system was formed in a similar way, but if we see it in depth,
maybe it does not fit exactly with the general model. This is because the conditions of the
first stages of the protoplanetary disk were slightly different, but in general terms there
must be no great differences.
All models we have now are failing to predict the formation of some planets in
certain conditions, the discussion on this topic was issued by the discovery of giant planets
very close to their parent star.
So, a lot of new observations must be done to really see if the Solar System is
something common in the Galaxy or in The Universe.

24
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