Breaking the stellar activity barrier to characterising small planets
Raphaëlle Haywood
Harvard College Observatory

The TESS mission will soon discover hundreds of small planets, many of which will be ideal candidates to determine their compositions and characterise their atmospheres. However, these opportunities will not be realised unless we can determine the planets’ most fundamental parameter: mass. This is precluded by the magnetic activity of the host stars, which induces significant variations in radial-velocity observations. I will present what we are learning about the magnetic behaviour of Sun-like stars through the study of our own Sun, observed as an exoplanet host star. I will discuss how we can apply this solar knowledge to other stars, and how we can optimise our observing strategies in radial-velocity follow-up of small transiting planets.

Date:	Jeudi, 12 avril 2018
Time:	11:30
Where:	Université de Montréal
	Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, Local D-460
Contact:	Björn Benneke & René Doyon