Searching for Planets in the Hyades. V. Limits on Planet Detection in the Presence of Stellar Activity
Abstract
We present the results of a radial velocity survey of a sample of Hyades stars and discuss the effects of stellar activity on radial velocity measurements. The level of radial velocity scatter due to rotational modulation of stellar surface features for the Hyades is in agreement with the 1997 predictions of Saar & Donahue-the maximum radial velocity rms of up to ~50 m s-1, with an average rms of ~16 m s-1. In this sample of 94 stars we find one new binary, two stars with linear trends indicative of binary companions, and no close-in giant planets. We discuss the limits on extrasolar planet detection in the Hyades and the constraints imposed on radial velocity surveys of young stars.
Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain. Additional data were obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is operated by McDonald Observatory on behalf of the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.- Publication:
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The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1086/420710
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0402569
- Bibcode:
- 2004AJ....127.3579P
- Keywords:
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- Galaxy: Open Clusters and Associations: Individual: Name: Hyades;
- Stars: Activity;
- Techniques: Radial Velocities;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- To appear in the June 2004 issue of AJ