1. The science of EChO
- Author
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Tinetti , Giovanna, Cho , James Y.-K., Griffith , Caitlin A., Grasset , Olivier, Grenfell , Lee, Guillot , Tristan, Koskinen , Tommi T., Moses , Julianne I., Pinfield , David, Tennyson , Jonathan, Tessenyi , Marcell, Wordsworth , Robin, Aylward , Alan, Van Boekel , Roy, Coradini , Angioletta, Encrenaz , Therese, Snellen , Ignas, Zapatero-Osorio , Maria R., Bouwman , Jeroen, Du Foresto , Vincent Coudé, Lopez-Morales , Mercedes, Mueller-Wodarg , Ingo, Pallé , Enric, Selsis , Franck, Sozzetti , Alessandro, Beaulieu , Jean-Philippe, Henning , Thomas, Meyer , Michael, Micela , Giuseppina, Ribas , Ignasi, Stam , Daphne, Swain , Mark, Krause , Oliver, Ollivier , Marc, Pace , Emanuele, Swinyard , Bruce, Ade , Peter A. R., Achilleos , Nick, Adriani , Alberto, Agnor , Craig B., Afonso , Cristina, Prieto , Carlos Allende, Bakos , Gaspar, Barber , Robert J., Barlow , Michael, Bernath , Peter, Bézard , Bruno, Bordé , Pascal, Brown , Linda R., Cassan , Arnaud, Cavarroc , Céline, Ciaravella , Angela, Cockell , Charles, Coustenis , Athéna, Danielski , Camilla, Decin , Leen, De Kok , Remco, Demangeon , Olivier, Deroo , Pieter, Doel , Peter, Drossart , Pierre, Fletcher , Leigh N., Focardi , Matteo, Forget , Francois, Fossey , Steve, Fouqué , Pascal, Frith , James, Galand , Marina, Gaulme , Patrick, Hernández , Jonay I. González, Grassi , Davide, Griffin , Matt J., Grözinger , Ulrich, Guedel , Manuel, Guio , Pactrick, Hainaut , Olivier, Hargreaves , Robert, Hauschildt , Peter H., Heng , Kevin, Heyrovsky , David, Hueso , Ricardo, Irwin , Pat, Kaltenegger , Lisa, Kervella , Patrick, Kipping , David, Kovacs , Geza, Barbera , Antonino La, Lammer , Helmut, Lellouch , Emmanuel, Leto , Giuseppe, Morales , Mercedes Lopez, Valverde , Miguel A. Lopez, Lopez-Puertas , Manuel, Lovi , Christophe, Maggio , Antonio, Maillard , Jean-Pierre, Prado , Jesus Maldonado, Marquette , Jean-Baptiste, Martin-Torres , Francisco J., Maxted , Pierre, Miller , Steve, Molinari , Sergio, Montes , David, Moro-Martin , Amaya, Mousis , Olivier, Tuong , Napoléon Nguyen, Nelson , Richard, Orton , Glenn S., Pantin , Eric, Pascale , Enzo, Pezzuto , Stefano, Poretti , Ennio, Prinja , Raman, Prisinzano , Loredana, Réess , Jean-Michel, Reiners , Ansgar, Samuel , Benjamin, Forcada , Jorge Sanz, Sasselov , Dimitar, Savini , Giorgio, Sicardy , Bruno, Smith , Alan, Stixrude , Lars, Strazzulla , Giovanni, Vasisht , Gautam, Vinatier , Sandrine, Viti , Serena, Waldmann , Ingo, White , Glenn J., Widemann , Thomas, Yelle , Roger, Yung , Yuk, Yurchenko , Sergey, University College of London [London] ( UCL ), Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson], University of Arizona, Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique de Nantes ( LPGN ), Université de Nantes ( UN ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Laboratoire de Cosmologie, Astrophysique Stellaire & Solaire, de Planétologie et de Mécanique des Fluides ( CASSIOPEE ), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis ( UNS ), Université Côte d'Azur ( UCA ) -Université Côte d'Azur ( UCA ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Université Côte d'Azur ( UCA ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Department of Physics and Astronomy [UCL London], Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) ( LMD ), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 ( UPMC ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -École polytechnique ( X ) -École des Ponts ParisTech ( ENPC ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ) -Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris ( ENS Paris ) -École normale supérieure - Paris ( ENS Paris ), Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario ( INAF ), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche [Roma] ( CNR ), Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique ( LESIA ), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 ( UPMC ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Observatoire de Paris-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 ( UPD7 ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Département d'Astrophysique (ex SAP) ( DAP ), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers ( IRFU ), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( CEA ) -Université Paris-Saclay-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( CEA ) -Université Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac] ( LAB ), Université de Bordeaux ( UB ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers ( OASU ), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1, Laboratoire d'astrodynamique, d'astrophysique et d'aéronomie de bordeaux ( L3AB ), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris ( IAP ), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 ( UPMC ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie ( MPIA ), Liquides Ioniques et Interfaces Chargées ( LI2C ), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 ( UPMC ) -ESPCI ParisTech-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo ( OAPa ), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica ( INAF ), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Spain] ( CSIC ), SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research ( SRON ), University of Calgary, Institut d'astrophysique spatiale ( IAS ), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 ( UP11 ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), School of Physics and Astronomy [London], Queen Mary University of London ( QMUL ), Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ), NASA-California Institute of Technology ( CALTECH ), Astronomische Rechen-Institut [Heidelberg] ( ARI ), Universität Heidelberg [Heidelberg]-Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute [Milton Keynes] ( PSSRI ), Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research [Milton Keynes] ( CEPSAR ), The Open University [Milton Keynes] ( OU ) -The Open University [Milton Keynes] ( OU ), Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics [Oxford] ( AOPP ), University of Oxford [Oxford], Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace ( IPSL ), École normale supérieure - Paris ( ENS Paris ) -Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines ( UVSQ ) -Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 ( UPMC ) -Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( CEA ) -Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales ( CNES ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Laboratoire Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes ( LATT ), Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse 3 ( UPS ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées ( OMP ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ), Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetaro ( IFSI ), Escuela Superior de Ingenieria, Universidad del País Vasco, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ( CfA ), Harvard University [Cambridge]-Smithsonian Institution, Space Research Institute of Austrian Academy of Sciences ( IWF ), Austrian Academy of Sciences ( OeAW ), Department of Science and Technology Studies [London] ( STS ), Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules ( UTINAM ), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ) -Université de Franche-Comté ( UFC ), Astrophysique Interactions Multi-échelles ( AIM - UMR 7158 - UMR E 9005 ), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( CEA ) -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( INSU - CNRS ) -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ) -Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 ( UPD7 ), Institut Universitaire de France ( IUF ), Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche ( M.E.N.E.S.R. ), Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ( RAL ), Science and Technology Facilities Council ( STFC ), Department of Physics and Astronomy [Milton Keynes], and The Open University [Milton Keynes] ( OU )
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[ PHYS.ASTR.EP ] Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,planets and satellites: formation ,planets and satellites: general ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,planetary systems ,[ SDU.ASTR.EP ] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] ,planetary systems: formation - Abstract
International audience; The science of extra-solar planets is one of the most rapidly changing areas of astrophysics and since 1995 the number of planets known has increased by almost two orders of magnitude. A combination of ground-based surveys and dedicated space missions has resulted in 560-plus planets being detected, and over 1200 that await confirmation. NASA's Kepler mission has opened up the possibility of discovering Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around some of the 100,000 stars it is surveying during its 3 to 4-year lifetime. The new ESA's Gaia mission is expected to discover thousands of new planets around stars within 200 parsecs of the Sun. The key challenge now is moving on from discovery, important though that remains, to characterisation: what are these planets actually like, and why are they as they are? In the past ten years, we have learned how to obtain the first spectra of exoplanets using transit transmission and emission spectroscopy. With the high stability of Spitzer, Hubble, and large ground-based telescopes the spectra of bright close-in massive planets can be obtained and species like water vapour, methane, carbon monoxide and dioxide have been detected. With transit science came the first tangible remote sensing of these planetary bodies and so one can start to extrapolate from what has been learnt from Solar System probes to what one might plan to learn about their faraway siblings. As we learn more about the atmospheres, surfaces and near-surfaces of these remote bodies, we will begin to build up a clearer picture of their construction, history and suitability for life. The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, EChO, will be the first dedicated mission to investigate the physics and chemistry of Exoplanetary Atmospheres. By characterising spectroscopically more bodies in different environments we will take detailed planetology out of the Solar System and into the Galaxy as a whole. EChO has now been selected by the European Space Agency to be assessed as one of four M3 mission candidates.
- Published
- 2010
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