Defining and cataloging exoplanets: the exoplanet.eu database
Abstract
We describe an online database for extrasolar planetary-mass candidates, which is updated regularly as new data are available. We first discuss criteria for inclusion of objects in the catalog: "definition" of a planet and several aspects of the confidence level of planet candidates. We are led to point out the contradiction between the sharpness of criteria for belonging to a catalog and the fuzziness of the confidence level for an object to be a planet. We then describe the different tables of extrasolar planetary systems, including unconfirmed candidates (which will ultimately be confirmed, or not, by direct imaging). It also provides online tools: histograms of planet and host star data, cross-correlations between these parameters, and some Virtual Observatory services. Future evolutions of the database are presented.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- August 2011
- DOI:
- 10.1051/0004-6361/201116713
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1106.0586
- Bibcode:
- 2011A&A...532A..79S
- Keywords:
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- catalogs;
- virtual observatory tools;
- planetary systems;
- planets and satellites: detection;
- planets and satellites: fundamental parameters;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics (revised version)