The EChO science case

Giovanna Tinetti , Pierre Drossart , Paul Eccleston , Paul Hartogh , Kate Isaak , Martin Linder , Christophe Lovis , Giusi Micela

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Marc Ollivier Ludovic Puig Ignasi Ribas Ignas Snellen Bruce Swinyard. France Allard Joanna Barstow James Cho Athena Coustenis Charles Cockell Alexandre Correia Leen Decin Remco de Kok Pieter Deroo Therese Encrenaz Francois Forget Alistair Glasse Caitlin Griffith Tristan Guillot Tommi Koskinen Helmut Lammer Jeremy Leconte Pierre Maxted Ingo Mueller-Wodarg Richard Nelson Chris North Enric Pall\'e Isabella Pagano Guseppe Piccioni David Pinfield Franck Selsis Alessandro Sozzetti Lars Stixrude Jonathan Tennyson Diego Turrini Mariarosa Zapatero-Osorio. Jean-Philippe Beaulieu Denis Grodent Manuel Guedel David Luz Hans Ulrik N{\o}rgaard-Nielsen Tom Ray Hans Rickman Avri Selig Mark Swain. Marek Banaszkiewicz Mike Barlow Neil Bowles Graziella Branduardi-Raymont Vincent Coud\'e du Foresto Jean-Claude Gerard Laurent Gizon Allan Hornstrup Christopher Jarchow Franz Kerschbaum G\'eza Kovacs Pierre-Olivier Lagage Tanya Lim Mercedes Lopez-Morales Giuseppe Malaguti Emanuele Pace Enzo Pascale Bart Vandenbussche Gillian Wright Gonzalo Ramos Zapata. Alberto Adriani Ruym\'an Azzollini Ana Balado Ian Bryson Raymond Burston Josep Colom\'e Martin Crook Anna Di Giorgio Matt Griffin Ruud Hoogeveen Roland Ottensamer Ranah Irshad Kevin Middleton Gianluca Morgante Frederic Pinsard Mirek Rataj Jean-Michel Reess Giorgio Savini Jan-Rutger Schrader Richard Stamper Berend Winter. L. Abe M. Abreu N. Achilleos P. Ade V. Adybekian L. Affer C. Agnor M. Agundez C. Alard J. Alcala C. Allende Prieto F.J. Alonso Floriano F. Altieri C.A. Alvarez Iglesias P. Amado A. Andersen A. Aylward C. Baffa G. Bakos P. Ballerini M. Banaszkiewicz R. J. Barber D. Barrado E.J. Barton V. Batista G. Bellucci J.A. Belmonte Avil\'es D. Berry B. B\'ezard D. Biondi M. B{\l}\k{e}cka I. Boisse B. Bonfond P. Bord\'e P. B\"orner H. Bouy L. Brown L. Buchhave J. Budaj A. Bulgarelli M. Burleigh A. Cabral M.T. Capria A. Cassan C. Cavarroc C. Cecchi-Pestellini R. Cerulli J. Chadney S. Chamberlain S. Charnoz N. Christian Jessen A. Ciaravella A. Claret R. Claudi A. Coates R. Cole A. Collura D. Cordier E. Covino C. Danielski M. Damasso H.J. Deeg E. Delgado-Mena C. Del Vecchio O. Demangeon A. De Sio J. de Wit M. Dobrij\'evic P. Doel C. Dominic E. Dorfi S. Eales C. Eiroa M. Espinoza Contreras M. Esposito V. Eymet N. Fabrizio M. Fern\'andez B. Femen\'ia Castella P. Figueira G. Filacchione L. Fletcher M. Focardi S. Fossey P. Fouqu\'e J. Frith M. Galand L. Gambicorti P. Gaulme R.J. Garc\'ia L\'opez A. Garcia-Piquer W. Gear J.-C. Gerard L. Gesa E. Giani F. Gianotti M. Gillon E. Giro M. Giuranna H. Gomez I. Gomez-Leal J. Gonzalez Hernandez B. Gonz\'alez Merino R. Graczyk D. Grassi J. Guardia P. Guio J. Gustin P. Hargrave J. Haigh E. H\'ebrard U. Heiter R. L. Heredero E. Herrero F. Hersant D. Heyrovsky M. Hollis B. Hubert R. Hueso G. Israelian N. Iro P. Irwin S. Jacquemoud G. Jones H. Jones K. Justtanont T. Kehoe F. Kerschbaum E. Kerins P. Kervella D. Kipping T. Koskinen N. Krupp O. Lahav B. Laken N. Lanza E. Lellouch G. Leto J. Licandro Goldaracena C. Lithgow-Bertelloni S.J. Liu U. Lo Cicero N. Lodieu P. Lognonn\'e M. Lopez-Puertas M.A. Lopez-Valverde I. Lundgaard Rasmussen A. Luntzer P. Machado C. MacTavish A. Maggio J.-P. Maillard W. Magnes J. Maldonado U. Mall J.-B. Marquette P. Mauskopf F. Massi A.-S. Maurin A. Medvedev C. Michaut P. Miles-Paez M. Montalto P. Monta\~n\'es Rodr\'iguez M. Monteiro D. Montes H. Morais J. C. Morales M. Morales-Calder\'on G. Morello A. Moro Mart\'in J. Moses A. Moya Bedon F. Murgas Alcaino E. Oliva G. Orton F. Palla M. Pancrazzi E. Pantin V. Parmentier H. Parviainen K.Y. Pe\~na Ram\'irez J. Peralta S. Perez-Hoyos R. Petrov S. Pezzuto R. Pietrzak E. Pilat-Lohinger N. Piskunov R. Prinja L. Prisinzano I. Polichtchouk E. Poretti A. Radioti A. A. Ramos T. Rank-L\"uftinger P. Read K. Readorn R. Rebolo L\'opez J. Rebord\~ao M. Rengel L. Rezac M. Rocchetto F. Rodler V.J. S\'anchez B\'ejar A. Sanchez Lavega E. Sanrom\'a N. Santos J. Sanz Forcada G. Scandariato F.-X. Schmider A. Scholz S. Scuderi J. Sethenadh S. Shore A. Showman B. Sicardy P. Sitek A. Smith L. Soret S. Sousa A. Stiepen M. Stolarski G. Strazzulla H.M Tabernero P. Tanga M. Tecsa J. Temple L. Terenzi M. Tessenyi L. Testi S. Thompson H. Thrastarson B.W. Tingley M. Trifoglio J. Mart\'in Torres A. Tozzi D. Turrini R. Varley F. Vakili M. de Val-Borro M.L. Valdivieso O. Venot E. Villaver S. Vinatier S. Viti I. Waldmann D. Waltham D. Ward-Thompson R. Waters C. Watkins D. Watson P. Wawer A. Wawrzaszk G. White T. Widemann W. Winek T. Wi\'sniowski R. Yelle Y. Yung S.N. Yurchenko

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classification 🌌 astro-ph.EP

keywords echoplanetsexoplanetslargeplanetallowatmosphericcharacterisation

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The discovery of almost 2000 exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? What causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) has been designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large and diverse planet sample within its four-year mission lifetime. EChO can target the atmospheres of super-Earths, Neptune-like, and Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (planet temperatures of 300K-3000K) of F to M-type host stars. Over the next ten years, several new ground- and space-based transit surveys will come on-line (e.g. NGTS, CHEOPS, TESS, PLATO), which will specifically focus on finding bright, nearby systems. The current rapid rate of discovery would allow the target list to be further optimised in the years prior to EChO's launch and enable the atmospheric characterisation of hundreds of planets. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment, as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. A 1m class telescope is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision. The spectral coverage (0.5-11 micron, goal 16 micron) and SNR to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would enable a very accurate measurement of the atmospheric composition and structure of hundreds of exoplanets.

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The EChO science case

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