Exoplanets and Belts of Exocomets Around Nearby Stars

E-BEANS aims to investigate exocomets' role in delivering volatile molecules to terrestrial planets during their formation, enhancing our understanding of life's origins on Earth-like worlds.

Subsidie
€ 1.499.586
2024

Projectdetails

Introduction

The conditions for the origin of life on Earth-like planets are developed during the last steps of planet formation, when the planetary system is 10 to a few hundred million years old. Of crucial importance are basic feedstock ‘volatile’ molecules for prebiotic chemistry, which could be absent from terrestrial planets that may have formed dry.

Project Goal

The goal of E-BEANS is to study Exoplanets and Belts of Exocomets Around Nearby Stars to understand their potential to affect the presence of volatiles on terrestrial planets. Exocometary belts in the cold, outer reaches of planetary systems represent the volatile ice reservoir.

Interactions and Impacts

Outer Neptune-like exoplanets can interact with them to send exocomets inwards, enabling volatile delivery to temperate terrestrial planets. Meanwhile, terrestrial planets continue to grow through giant impacts, massive collisions that can strip off their atmospheres, affecting their composition.

Research Objectives

E-BEANS will study these processes to enable major steps forward on several fronts:

  1. It will carry out a multi-wavelength exploration of the composition of exocomets in the terrestrial planet formation epoch, enhanced by the first model of the chemical evolution of exocometary gas.
  2. It will link the derived compositions to exocomet formation locations through population synthesis models applied to imaging survey data.
  3. E-BEANS will also study the diversity of planet-induced structure in exocometary belts, a signature of the planet-exocomet interaction necessary to scatter exocomets inwards.
  4. It will test an ambitious long-term plan to directly detect these Neptune analogs through ground-based mm/radio astrometry with future radio observatories.
  5. Finally, the program will explore the composition and mass of impacting terrestrial planets through the gas and dust they release as post-impact debris.

Financiële details & Tijdlijn

Financiële details

Subsidiebedrag€ 1.499.586
Totale projectbegroting€ 1.499.586

Tijdlijn

Startdatum1-9-2024
Einddatum31-8-2029
Subsidiejaar2024

Partners & Locaties

Projectpartners

  • THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLINpenvoerder

Land(en)

Ireland

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