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Towards direct spectroscopic detection of extra-solar giant planets
Andrew Collier Cameron (St. Andrews)
The discovery in 1995 by Mayor & Queloz of periodic radial-velocity
variations in the star 51 Pegasi, and their interpretation as being caused
by a Jupiter-mass planet orbiting the star, heralded the beginning of a
new era in the study of planetary systems around other stars. Over twenty
such planets have been found since, some orbiting extremely close to their
parent stars. The reflex-velocity method, however, provides only indirect
detections. For the last two years, we have sought to confirm the
existence of such planets and to begin to explore their physical
properties via a spectroscopic search for starlight scattered from the
planet orbiting the star tau Bootis. We discuss the expected signal
strength, and the analysis techniques that we are using to disentangle the
faint spectroscopic signature of the planet from that of its parent star,
together with preliminary results from the 1998 and 1999 observing seasons
at the William Herschel Telescope.
(Andrew Collier Cameron, Keith Horne, Alan Penny, and David James)
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