SPECULOOS

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Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars
Speculoos 4 telescopes.jpg
Alternative namesSPECULOOS  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Named after speculoos   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Location(s) Paranal Observatory, Teide Observatory, Chile, Spain OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Organization European Southern Observatory
University of Liège   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Telescope style astronomical survey
infrared telescope
Ritchey–Chrétien telescope   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Number of telescopes5  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Diameter1 m (3 ft 3 in) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website www.speculoos.uliege.be OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  Commons-logo.svg Related media on Commons
[ edit on Wikidata]

SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) is a project consisting of SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (SSO) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile and SPECULOOS Northern Observatory (SNO) at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. [1] [2]

Contents

The SSO consists of four Ritchey–Chrétien telescopes of 1-metre primary aperture, made by ASTELCO. Each telescope is equipped with a NTM-1000 robotic mount and will search for Earth-sized exoplanets around 1000 ultra-cool stars and brown dwarfs. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] As of June 2019, the SNO consists of one telescope, but more might be added in the future with up to three telescopes for SNO. [8] SPECULOOS is complemented by SAINT-EX and TRAPPIST. [9]

Science overview

Ultra-cool dwarf stars and brown dwarfs have a small radius, causing the transits caused by planets to be deeper. This allows the detection of terrestrial planets around these dwarfs, which are predicted to be common around brown dwarfs. [10] The TRAPPIST-1 system showed that ultra-cool dwarfs form terrestrial planets in the habitable zone. For brown dwarfs it was predicted that 175 of these objects need to be monitored to find one system with transiting planets. [11]

During the survey operation each telescope will observe one target for about 10 nights. This kind of observation is optimized for each target to find exoplanets in the habitable zone. To observe 500 targets in the southern hemisphere 1200 nights or 5 years are needed. The continuous observation of one target is needed to find these exoplanets in the habitable zone around ultra-cool dwarf stars. Such planets are expected to have a short transit duration, which can be small as 15 minutes. [12]

Individual telescopes and first light

First light image of the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory's Callisto telescope, showing the Horsehead Nebula. Nebulosa testa di cavallo con SPECULOOS.jpg
First light image of the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory’s Callisto telescope, showing the Horsehead Nebula.

The system of SPECULOOS - South (SSO) comprises four telescopes called Europa, Io, Callisto, and Ganymede. The telescopes are named after the Galilean moons that orbit the planet Jupiter, the most massive planet in the solar system. The first telescope (Europa) saw its first light in April 2017. [13] The second telescope (Io) began operations in October 2017. [14] As of December 2019, all SPECULOOS - South telescopes are operational. [1] ESO released first light images of SPECULOOS - South on the 2018-12-05. The telescopes did take images of the Carina Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula and the spiral galaxy Messier 83. [2] Artemis is the first telescope for SPECULOOS - North (SNO) it began operations on June 20, 2019. [1]

The robotic observations of each of the four telescopes is controlled by the program ACP Expert. [15] Each telescope is equipped with an Andor Peltier-cooled deeply depleted 2k × 2k CCD camera and the telescopes have a 12 × 12 arcminutes field of view. [12]

Wavelength

The four 1 m-diameter telescopes will be equipped with cameras sensitive in the near-infrared, the wavelength range in which ultra-cool stars and brown dwarfs emit most of their light. The detectors are optimized for 700 to 1000 nm wavelength, to observe ultracool dwarfs with a J-band magnitude of 14 or brighter at good seeing conditions. [12]

Collaboration

SPECULOOS involves scientists from the University of Liège (Belgium), the University of Birmingham (UK), the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (UK), the University of Bern (Swiss), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and the King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia), under the leadership of Michaël Gillon of the University of Liège. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) supports and hosts the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (SSO) at the Paranal Observatory. [2] [9]

Name

As with the other space observation projects of the University of Liège like TRAPPIST, the name Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars makes up a backronym referring to a Belgian food: in this case, the spiced biscuit known as Speculoos.

Results

The first light data of the SPECULOOS telescopes revealed the eclipsing binary brown dwarf 2M1510A, which is only the second eclipsing binary brown dwarf found so far. [16] The data by SPECULOOS did help to characterise low-mass eclipsing binaries and plays an important part in the follow-up of a new class of rapidly rotating low-mass stars. [17]

SPECULOOS was involved in the discovery of the exoplanet K2-135b, the exoplanets around L 98-59 and the planetary system TOI-178. [17] [18] SAINT-EX, which is part of the SPECULOOS project helped in the discovery of the planets around TOI-1266. [17]

In 2022, the discovery of two super-Earths, one in the habitable zone, around LP 890-9 using SPECULOOS was announced. [19] This system is also designated SPECULOOS-2, with TRAPPIST-1 being SPECULOOS-1. [20] In 2024, a short-period Earth-sized planet was announced around the ultra-cool dwarf SPECULOOS-3 (LSPM J2049+3336). [21]

Planetary systems discovered as part of the SPECULOOS project
SystemStarPlanet
NameDistSpTTempRadius
(R☉)		PlPeriod (days)Radius
(R🜨)
TRAPPIST-1 [22]
(SPECULOOS-1)		40.66±0.04M8V2566±260.1192(13) b 1.510826(6)1.116+0.014
−0.012
c 2.421937(18)1.097+0.014
−0.012
d 4.049219(26)0.788+0.011
−0.010
e 6.101013(35)0.920+0.013
−0.012
f 9.207540(32)1.045+0.013
−0.012
g 12.352446(54)1.129+0.015
−0.013
h 18.772866(214)0.755±0.014
LP 890-9 [20]
(SPECULOOS-2)		105.4±0.1M6V2850±750.1556(86)b2.7299025(40)1.320+0.053
−0.027
c8.457463(24)1.367+0.055
−0.039
SPECULOOS-3 [21]
(LSPM J2049+3336)		54.63±0.04M6.5V2800±290.1230(22)b0.71912603(57)0.977±0.022

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">TRAPPIST-1e</span> Earth-size exoplanet orbiting TRAPPIST-1

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SPECULOOS-3 b</span> Exoplanet orbiting the ultracool star SPECULOOS-3

SPECULOOS-3 b is an Earth-sized exoplanet, orbiting the ultracool red dwarf star SPECULOOS-3. It is relatively close to Earth, at a distance of 55 light-years. SPECULOOS-3 b takes only about 17 hours to complete an orbit around SPECULOOS-3, and, because of that proximity, it receives very high levels of radiation and is tidally locked, meaning that one side of the planet always faces its host star. Its discovery was made using the SPECULOOS project, and announced in May 2024 in the academic journal Nature Astronomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SPECULOOS-3</span> Ultra-cool dwarf star orbited by an exoplanet

SPECULOOS-3, also known as LSPM J2049+3336, is a red dwarf star located 54.6 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It is one of the smallest known stars, and is much cooler, dimmer and smaller than the Sun, having 0.1 times the mass, 0.08% the Sun's luminosity, and an effective temperature of 2,800 K (2,530 °C), which is less than half of the Sun's temperature. It is orbited by one known exoplanet, and is the second ultra-cool dwarf discovered to have a planetary system, after TRAPPIST-1.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "SPECULNEW - SPECULOOS-Nord (SNO)". www.speculoos.uliege.be. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  2. 1 2 3 "First Light for SPECULOOS - Four telescopes devoted to the search for habitable planets around nearby ultra-cool stars get off to a successful start at ESO's Paranal Observatory". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  3. ↑ "Université de Liège - Life elsewhere in the Universe? A new nearby planetary system could bring soon the answer". Ulg.ac.be. 2016-07-20. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  4. ↑ "Speculoos". Orca.ulg.ac.be. Archived from the original on 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  5. ↑ Samuel Reich, Eugenie (2013-10-29). "Astronomers revisit dwarf stars' promise". Nature News. 502 (7473): 606. doi: 10.1038/502606a . PMID   24172958.
  6. ↑ "SPECULOOS, a search for terrestrial planets transiting the nearest ultra-cool stars (Speaker: Michael Gillon)". Space.mit.edu. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  7. ↑ "Research". SPECULOOS. Archived from the original on 22 May 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  8. ↑ "3Q: Julien de Wit on Searching for Red Worlds in the Northern Skies | MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences". eapsweb.mit.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  9. 1 2 "SPECULNEW - The Project". www.speculoos.uliege.be. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  10. ↑ Payne, Matthew J.; Lodato, Giuseppe (November 2007). "The potential for Earth-mass planet formation around brown dwarfs". MNRAS. 381 (4): 1597–1606. arXiv: 0709.0676 . Bibcode:2007MNRAS.381.1597P. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12362.x . ISSN   0035-8711. S2CID   18055969.
  11. ↑ He, Matthias Y.; Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.; Gillon, Michaël (January 2017). "First limits on the occurrence rate of short-period planets orbiting brown dwarfs". MNRAS. 464 (3): 2687–2697. arXiv: 1609.05053 . Bibcode:2017MNRAS.464.2687H. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stw2391 . ISSN   0035-8711. S2CID   53692008.
  12. 1 2 3 Burdanov, Artem; Delrez, Laetitia; Gillon, Michaël; Jehin, Emmanuël (2018). "SPECULOOS Exoplanet Search and Its Prototype on TRAPPIST". Handbook of Exoplanets. pp. 1007–1023. arXiv: 1710.03775 . Bibcode:2018haex.bookE.130B. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55333-7_130. ISBN   978-3-319-55332-0. S2CID   54016210.
  13. ↑ Europa First light!. SPECULOOS. 20/04/2017
  14. ↑ Io, Europa’s young brother is installed Archived 2017-12-26 at the Wayback Machine . SPECULOOS. 04/10/2017
  15. ↑ "SPECULOOS Southern Observatory".
  16. ↑ Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.; Burgasser, Adam J.; Burdanov, Artem; Kunovac Hodžić, Vedad; Alonso, Roi; Bardalez Gagliuffi, Daniella; Delrez, Laetitia; Demory, Brice-Olivier; de Wit, Julien; Ducrot, Elsa; Hessman, Frederic V. (January 2020). "An Eclipsing Substellar Binary in a Young Triple System discovered by SPECULOOS". Nature Astronomy. 4 (7): 650–657. arXiv: 2001.07175 . Bibcode:2020NatAs...4..650T. doi:10.1038/s41550-020-1018-2. S2CID   210839528.
  17. 1 2 3 Sebastian, D.; Pedersen, P. P.; Murray, C. A.; Ducrot, E.; Garcia, L. J.; Burdanov, A.; Pozuelos, F. J.; Delrez, L.; Wells, R.; Dransfield, G.; Gillon, M. (2021-01-01). "Development of the SPECULOOS exoplanet search project". In Marshall, Heather K; Spyromilio, Jason; Usuda, Tomonori (eds.). Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII. p. 276. arXiv: 2101.10970 . doi:10.1117/12.2563563. ISBN   9781510636774. S2CID   230550439.
  18. ↑ Leleu, A.; Alibert, Y.; Hara, N. C.; Hooton, M. J.; Wilson, T. G.; Robutel, P.; Delisle, J.-B.; Laskar, J.; Hoyer, S.; Lovis, C.; Bryant, E. M. (2021-01-01). "Six transiting planets and a chain of Laplace resonances in TOI-178". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 649: A26. arXiv: 2101.09260 . Bibcode:2021A&A...649A..26L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039767. S2CID   231693292.
  19. ↑ "SPECULOOS discovers a potentially habitable super-Earth". University of Liège. 7 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  20. 1 2 Delrez, L.; Murray, C. A.; et al. (September 2022). "Two temperate super-Earths transiting a nearby late-type M dwarf". Astronomy & Astrophysics . 667: A59. arXiv: 2209.02831 . Bibcode:2022A&A...667A..59D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202244041. S2CID   252110654.
  21. 1 2 Gillon, Michaël; Pedersen, Peter P.; et al. (May 2024). "Detection of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting the nearby ultracool dwarf star SPECULOOS-3". Nature Astronomy . 8 (7): 865–878. arXiv: 2406.00794 . Bibcode:2024NatAs...8..865G. doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02271-2.
  22. ↑ Agol, Eric; Dorn, Caroline; et al. (1 February 2021). "Refining the Transit-timing and Photometric Analysis of TRAPPIST-1: Masses, Radii, Densities, Dynamics, and Ephemerides". The Planetary Science Journal. 2 (1): 1. arXiv: 2010.01074 . Bibcode:2021PSJ.....2....1A. doi: 10.3847/psj/abd022 . ISSN   2632-3338. S2CID   222125312.
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