| Name: | Vineeth Valsan |
| Affiliation: | Christ (Deemed to be University) |
| Conference ID : | ASI2024_986 |
| Title : | A compact NUV telescope for monitoring stellar activity in exoplanetary systems |
| Authors : | Vineeth Valsan A1, Arun Surya B1, Mayank Narang C1, Manoj Puravankara C2, Dibyendu Nandy D1, S. Narendranath E1, A. Tyagi E2, Ravinder Banyal B2, and T. Sivarani B3 |
| Authors Affiliation: | 1 Author A: Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bengaluru – 560029, India
2 Author B: Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore - 560034, India
3 Author C: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai
4 Author D: Centre for Excellence in Space Sciences & Dept. of Physical Sciences, IISER Kolkata
5 Author E: Space Astronomy Group, U R Rao Satellite Centre, ISRO |
| Mode of Presentation: | Poster* |
| Abstract Category : | Facilities, Technologies and Data science |
| Abstract : | Ultraviolet radiation from stars has a significant effect on planetary atmospheres. In our solar system, Earth’s upper atmosphere responds to solar UV irradiance at time scales of minutes to decades. Earth’s climatic changes over long time scales have strong links to solar irradiance variabilities. UV radiation and other physical processes affect star-planet interactions, impacting atmospheric mass loss and offering insights into planetary magnetospheres. From the astrobiological perspective, stellar UV radiation is important for synthesising primordial life forms.
Taken together, these imply that the activity of host stars influences the habitability of exoplanets.
With the growing number of exoplanetary systems discovered in our Galaxy, it is now crucial to explore the stellar activity parameter space that governs planetary environments and their evolution.
Photometry to an accuracy of 0.1% would allow us to measure the transit light curves of hot Jupiters, Saturns and Neptunes. Long-term monitoring of such systems around M and G-type stars would enable us to study the relation between R_optical, R_FUV and R_NUV for hot Jupiters (inflated and non-inflated), Saturns and Neptunes. Mass loss in such systems leads to asymmetric transit light curves, which can be characterized more conclusively with long-term monitoring.
To address this growing need, we propose a compact NUV telescope ideal for small satellite platforms for long-term observations of a target list of known planet-hosting stars. While individual missions may have a relatively small lifetime, we envisage a sequence of small-sat missions which can provide uninterrupted, long-term monitoring of the targeted stars. Such observations would not only offer insights into star-planet interactions, they would also constrain the origin of stellar UV variability, which remains a challenge for our understanding. The proposed instrument would be relevant to various disciplines, including exoplanetary sciences, stellar physics and star-planet interactions. |
