A Targeted Search for Trojan Asteroids in Kepler Lightcurves
Abstract
'Trojan' asteroids, or asteroids trapped in stable gravitational positions preceding and trailing a planet in its orbit, accompany almost every planet of our Solar System. They were captured into their current locations in the early stages of our solar system's formation, and their presence hints at the dynamical history of bodies orbiting the Sun. However, we have no reason to assume that our own planets are alone in possessing Trojan asteroids. NASA's Kepler mission, launched in 2009, has been instrumental in the recent search for exoplanets. It has identified thousands of new worlds to date. However, exo-Trojan asteroids have as-yet eluded detection. If asteroids are captured at both Lagrangian points, their folded transit signature is not strictly periodic (since transits occur 1/6th of the planetary period before and after transit), and may be missed by traditional search algorithms. Our targeted search, at the predicted times of transit, is best suited for identifying candidate Trojans. Moreover, we have focused our investigation upon the set of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) that we predict will be most fruitful for Trojan detection. However, if we are unable to detect these Trojan asteroids, we will be able to set limiting constraints on the presence of asteroids in exoplanetary systems. Observations of these Trojan asteroids, or the lack thereof, would give insight to the evolution and migration models of these systems.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #225
- Pub Date:
- January 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015AAS...22513716B