Xavier Dumusque
CAUP

Abstract
Since a few years, we start to discover some very low mass planets (19 with MNeptune). The smallest one, which is only 1.9 times more massive than Earth is nevertheless very close to its host star, with a period of 3.5 days. The next step is to find such small planets in habitable regions (200 days for a K dwarf), which require a precision of 10 cm/s. The actual HARPS precision obtained by observations, 1 m/s, seems limited by stellar noise. To reach the 10 cm/s precision, we have to find an optimized observational strategy, which averages out as much as possible stellar noise, including oscillations, granulation and activity.

2009 December 09, 13:30

IA/U.Porto
Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (Auditorium)
Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto