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2020 IPS Conference
Study Materials
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Home
About/Contact
Newsletters
Events/Seminars
2020 IPS Conference
Study Materials
Corporate Members
Over the past two decades, the discovery and study of extra-solar planets has undergone stunningly rapid growth. The most prolific method for discovery of such planets is the transit method, which measures the decrease in light received from a star due to an eclipsing planet. Although previous transit programs have all surveyed the sky in the visible band, searching for exoplanets in the UV band presents new and exciting opportunities for discoveries. Such opportunities include the search for planets orbiting stars of hot spectral classes, which are considerably shorter-lived than the sun-like stars typically studied so far. The planetary abundance of these young systems will help constrain and illuminate models of solar system formation and early dynamics. Another opportunity relies on using the strong temperature and hence UV color contrast between the chromosphere and photosphere of giant stars to detect planets orbiting these giants. Such planets are otherwise undetectable by conventional techniques due to the large size ratio between the stellar host and planet. The launch of ULTRASAT, the first Israeli space research satellite which will survey a wide field of view in the NUV band, will offer a unique opportunity to make significant contributions to this booming field.