COOL STARS ARE ABUNDANT AND FREQUENTLY HOST SMALL PLANETS. IN THE COMING DECADE EFFORTS TO DETECT AND CHARACTERIZE ROCKY PLANETS WILL FOCUS ON THOSE ORBITING M-DWARFS. HOWEVER THESE STARS ARE KNOWN TO BE HIGHLY MAGNETICALLY ACTIVE THUS PLANETS THEY HOST ARE SUBJECTED TO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE RADIATION THAN WE EXPERIENCE FROM THE SUN; JUST HOW MUCH THIS AFFECTS THEIR HABITABILITY REMAINS UNCLEAR. WE ARE UNDERTAKING AN AMBITIOUS MULTI-YEAR MULTI-INSTRUMENT CAMPAIGN TO MONITOR M-DWARFS WITH AGES FROM 10 MYR TO 10 GYR AT X-RAY UV OPTICAL AND RADIO WAVELENGTHS. THE COMBINED DATA WILL PROVIDE A COMPLETE PICTURE OF M DWARF ACTIVITY ENABLING US TO IDENTIFY ENVIRONMENTS CONDUCIVE TO HABITABLE WORLDS. THIS PROPOSAL IS TO ANALYZE HIGH CADENCE LONG-BASELINE MONITORING OF OVER A HUNDRED YOUNG AND FIELD M-DWARFS FROM K2. THE K2 SHORT CADENCE DATA IS FUNDAMENTAL TO OUR PROJECT BY PROVIDING THE FREQUENCY AND EPOCHS OF LOW AMPLITUDE SHORT DURATION FLARING EVENTS THAT CANNOT BE RESOLVED WITH LONG CADENCE DATA. FURTHERMORE BY SELECTING TARGETS THAT HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN PREVIOUS CAMPAIGNS WE WILL MEASURE CHANGES IN ACTIVITY ON TIMESCALES OF YEARS.
$39,996FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore MD