Parkes observations for project P1018 semester 2019APRS

Full description

Stellar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) may significantly impact the habitability of their planetary companions. M-dwarfs are particularly interesting in this regard, as they are known to flare more frequently and powerfully than the Sun, and a large fraction of them are likely to host planets within their habitable zones. To fully characterise the impact of stellar activity and space weather events on companion planets, a sustained, multi-wavelength campaign is required to trace particle acceleration and energisation occurring in distinct regions of the stellar magnetosphere. The discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting within the ‘habitable zone’ of the active M-dwarf Proxima Centauri has spurred renewed interest of this system in the literature. At just 1.3 pc away, this system is ideal for developing our understanding of the impact of space weather events on Earth-like planets around active stars. As part of a large, multi-wavelength international campaign we are proposing 60 hours of Parkes Radio Telescope observations targeting Proxima Centauri, using the new UWL receiver. The large instantaneous bandwidth and high time-resolution capability of the Parkes UWL receiver will allow us to comprehensively characterise radio bursts at gigahertz frequencies. This will provide important diagnostics of the magnetospheric environment of this star, and may enable direct observation of space weather events such as CMEs. If successful, these observations will be a key part of an extensive campaign that will significantly improve our understanding of our nearest stellar neighbour.