Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zone of α Centauri

Abstract

Giant exoplanets on wide orbits have been directly imaged around young stars. If the thermal background in the mid-infrared can be mitigated, then exoplanets with lower masses can also be imaged. Here we present a ground-based mid-infrared observing approach that enables imaging low-mass temperate exoplanets around nearby stars, and in particular within the closest stellar system, Alpha Centauri. Based on 75-80% of the best quality images from 100 hours of cumulative observations, we demonstrate sensitivity to warm sub-Neptune-sized planets throughout much of the habitable zone of Alpha Centauri A. This is an order of magnitude more sensitive than state-of-the-art exoplanet imaging mass detection limits. We also discuss a possible exoplanet or exozodiacal disk detection around Alpha Centauri A. However, an instrumental artifact of unknown origin cannot be ruled out. These results demonstrate the feasibility of imaging rocky habitable-zone exoplanets with current and upcoming telescopes.

29 pages, 11 figures, published in Nature Communications

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Exoplanets with ELT-METIS I: Estimating the direct imaging exoplanet yield around stars within 6.5 parsecs
• Exomoons in Systems with a Strong Perturber: Applications to $\alpha$ Cen AB
• Efficiently combining Alpha CenA multi-epoch high-contrast imaging data. Application of K-Stacker to the 80 hrs NEAR campaign
• JWST/MIRI coronagraphic performances as measured on-sky