Hot Moons and Cool Stars

Abstract

The exquisite photometric precision of the Kepler space telescope now puts the detection of extrasolar moons at the horizon. Here, we firstly review observational and analytical techniques that have recently been proposed to find exomoons. Secondly, we discuss the prospects of characterizing potentially habitable extrasolar satellites. With moons being much more numerous than planets in the solar system and with most exoplanets found in the stellar habitable zone being gas giants, habitable moons could be as abundant as habitable planets. However, satellites orbiting planets in the habitable zones of cool stars will encounter strong tidal heating and likely appear as hot moons.

submitted as Proceedings to the ROPACS meeting "Hot Planets and Cool Stars" (Nov. 2012, Garching), 4 pages, 2 colored figures

References in corpus (6)

• Habitable planets around the star Gl 581?
• Transit timing effects due to an exomoon
• Determination of the size, mass, and density of "exomoons" from photometric transit timing variations
• Detecting companions to extrasolar planets using mutual events
• Exomoon habitability constrained by energy flux and orbital stability
• The Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for exomoons or binary planets

Cited by in corpus (5)

• WASP-121 b: a hot Jupiter in a polar orbit and close to tidal disruption
• New prospects for observing and cataloguing exoplanets in well detached binaries
• New Planetary Systems from the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search
• Single Transit Candidates from K2: Detection and Period Estimation
• The discovery of WASP-151b, WASP-153b, WASP-156b: Insights on giant planet migration and the upper boundary of the Neptunian desert