Abstract
First, we summarize the four-year long efforts undertaken to build the final setup of the APACHE Project, a photometric transit search for small-size planets orbiting bright, low-mass M dwarfs. Next, we describe the present status of the APACHE survey, officially started in July 2012 at the site of the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley, in the Western Italian Alps. Finally, we briefly discuss the potentially far-reaching consequences of a multi-technique characterization program of the (potentially planet-bearing) APACHE targets.
Highlights
M dwarf stars, with masses M ≤ 0.6 M, make up the vast majority of the reservoir of nearby stars within ∼ 25–30 pc
We summarize the four-year long efforts undertaken to build the final setup of the APACHE Project, a photometric transit search for small-size planets orbiting bright, low-mass M dwarfs
APACHE is the first Europe-based transit search for small-radius planets orbiting, bright, nearby M dwarfs. It draws on the pioneering work carried out by the MEarth project (Nutzman & Charbonneau 2008), in that is adopts a one target per field approach and the correspoding constraints on the observing strategy optimized for the array of five APACHE telescopes and the chosen site characteristics
Summary
M dwarf stars, with masses M ≤ 0.6 M , make up the vast majority of the reservoir of nearby stars within ∼ 25–30 pc These stars have not traditionally been included in large numbers in the target lists of radial-velocity (RV) searches for planets for two main reasons: 1) their intrinsic faintness, which prevented Doppler surveys in the optical from achieving very high radial-velocity precision (< 5–10 m/s) for large samples of M dwarfs (e.g., Eggenberger & Udry 2010, and references therein), and 2) their being considered as providers of very inhospitable environments for potentially habitable planets (e.g., Tarter et al 2007; Scalo et al 2007, and references therein). The survey, with official kick-off in July 2012, will last for five years
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