Abstract
SPICES (Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems) is a five-year M-class mission proposed to ESA Cosmic Vision. Its purpose is to image and characterize long-period extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks in the visible (450-900 nm) at a spectral resolution of about 40 using both spectroscopy and polarimetry. By 2020/2022, present and near-term instruments will have found several tens of planets that SPICES will be able to observe and study in detail. Equipped with a 1. 5 m telescope, SPICES can preferentially access exoplanets located at several AUs (0. 5-10 AU) from nearby stars (<25 pc) with masses ranging from a few Jupiter masses to Super Earths (~2 Earth radii, ~10 M ⊕) as well as circumstellar disks as faint as a few times the zodiacal light in the Solar System.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 355-384 |
Number of pages | 30 |
Journal | Experimental Astronomy |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2012 |
Keywords
- Exoplanets
- High contrast imaging
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science