Monica Rainer - pianeti extrasolari

La ricerca della luce stellare riflessa dai pianeti extrasolari permette di caratterizzare questi corpi anche quando le loro orbite sono allineate in modo sfavorevole rispetto a noi.

Abbiamo studiato la possibile presenza di luce riflessa in 51 Pegasi b, il primo pianeta extrasolare mai scoperto. In passato studi simili avevano fornito risultati contrastanti: analizzando tutti gli spettri presenti negli archivi degli spettrografi HARPS e HARPS-N non abbiamo trovato evidenza di luce riflessa, il che ci permette di fissare un limite superiore dell'albedo di 51 Pegasi b pari a 0.05-0.15.

Dallo studio pubblicato recentemente su Astronomy & Astrophysics "The GAPS Programme at TNG. XXIX. No detection of reflected light from 51 Peg b using optical high-resolution spectroscopy"

Monica Rainer è una ricercatrice dell'INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri e studia la variabilità stellare e i pianeti extrasolari.

The search for starlight reflected by exoplanets allows us to characterize these bodies even when their orbits are aligned unfavorably with respect to us.

We investigated the presence of reflected light in 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet ever discovered. In the past similar studies had provided conflicting results: analyzing all the spectra present in the archives of the HARPS and HARPS-N spectrographs we did not find evidence of reflected light, which allows us to fix an upper albedo limit of 51 Pegasi b equal to 0.05 -0.15.

From the study recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics "The GAPS Program at TNG. XXIX. No detection of reflected light from 51 Peg b using optical high-resolution spectroscopy"

Monica Rainer is a researcher at the INAF Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory and studies stellar variability and extrasolar planets.

This artist’s view shows the hot Jupiter exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, sometimes referred to as Bellerophon, which orbits a star about 50 light-years from Earth in the northern constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse). This was the first exoplanet around a normal star to be found in 1995. Twenty years later this object was also the first exoplanet to be be directly detected spectroscopically in visible light.Credits: ESO/M. Kornmesser/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)