Detecting and characterizing extrasolar planetary systems with astrometry: review from the Blue Dots astrometry working group

TL;DR

This review discusses how astrometry is a vital method for detecting and characterizing various exoplanets, especially Earth-like planets, by analyzing current and future projects' capabilities and noise sensitivities.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of astrometry projects and evaluates their potential in discovering and studying diverse exoplanet types, including Earth analogs.

Findings

Astrometry is sensitive to different noise sources.

Astrometry can detect Earth-like planets in habitable zones.

Multiple projects are advancing astrometric exoplanet detection.

Abstract

The astrometry technique is an important tool for detecting and characterizing exoplanets of different type. In this review, the different projects which are either operating, in construction or in discussion are presented and their performance discussed in the framework of the Blue Dots study. We investigate the sensitivity of astrometry to different sources of noise and we show that astrometry is a key technique in the path of discovering and characterizing new types of planets including the very challenging category of Earth-like planets orbiting the habitable zone of solar-type stars.