1. Bow Shocks in Exoplanets
Leon Stilwell
Introduction
Over 1060 exoplanets have been confirmed so far. Some of these planets will have a magnetic field This magnetic field can interact with the stellar material (solar wind) coming from its parent star. This interaction is known as a bow shock.
These bow shocks are an important part in determining if whether or not life can exist on a planet.
Bow shocks can be detected by observing a suspected target as it transits in front of its parent star by comparing the light curves of the IR and UV wavelength.
Bow shocks are an important part in determining if whether or not life can exist on a planet.
If a bow shock is too weak or non-existent, the planet will be bombarded with radiation from the parent star.
In addition, it may blow away the planet’s atmosphere Objective To use the UV/IR detection method to attempt to detect bow shocks on several exoplanets.
Key Terms
Bow Shock- The area between a magnetosphere and another medium such as stellar wind or the interstellar medium.
Exoplanet- a planet outside our solar system.
Magnitude- logarithmic measure of the brightness of an object.
Methodology Observations of several stars, HAT-p-7, HAT-p-32, WASP-18b were taken. The data was received from telescopes on the University of Hawaii’s observatory at Mauna Kea.
The resulting data was obtained in FITS format and opened with MaxIM DL.
Using this program, the data was able to be analyzed and plotted into light curves Results
Discussion/Conclusion None of the observations resulted in a detection of a bow shock.
Despite the results from this study, further attempts should be made to detect bow shocks using this method.
In addition, in case this technique is not viable, attempts should be made to create a different method of detecting bow shocks.
Review of Literature
Vidotto, A. A., Jardine, M., & Helling, C. (2010). Early uv ingress in wasp-12b: Measuring planetary magnetic fields. The Astrophysical Journal, 168-,
Used and expanded upon the UV/IR detection method with WASP-12b. Determined that an early ingress was sufficient evidence to detect a bow shock.
Vidotto, A. A., Jardine, M., & Helling, C. (2011). Prospects for detection of exoplanet magnetic fields through bow-shock observations during transits. .Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ,
Put forth several exoplanets that are likely to harbor a bow shock, including TReS-3b and CoRoT-2b, among others.
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