Testing the paradigm of X-ray driven exoplanet evaporation with XMM+HST
Abstract
HST observations show that two of the brightest transiting exoplanets are evaporating {HD209458b & HD189733b} and models suggest that the evolution of close-in planets may be dominated by this mass loss. It is believed that the evaporation is driven by X-ray irradiation of the planet by its parent star, but a lack of simultaneous measurements of irradiation and evaporation prevents a meaningful test of this model. We propose simultaneous XMM-Newton and HST observations of three transits of the brightest X-ray source, HD189733, in order to test the paradigm of X-ray driven evaporation and make a direct measurement of the efficiency of exoplanet evaporation.
- Publication:
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HST Proposal
- Pub Date:
- October 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012hst..prop12920W