SPICES: Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems

TL;DR

SPICES is a proposed five-year ESA mission designed to image and analyze long-period exoplanets and circumstellar disks using spectro-polarimetric techniques in visible light, aiming to advance understanding of planetary systems.

Contribution

It introduces a new mission concept combining spectroscopy and polarimetry to study exoplanets and disks at several AUs from nearby stars, filling observational gaps.

Findings

Potential to observe tens of exoplanets in detail.

Capability to study faint circumstellar disks.

Access to exoplanets with masses from a few Jupiter masses to Super Earths.

Abstract

SPICES (Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems) is a five-year M-class mission proposed to ESA Cosmic Vision. Its purpose is to image and characterize long-period extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks in the visible (450 - 900 nm) at a spectral resolution of about 40 using both spectroscopy and polarimetry. By 2020/22, present and near-term instruments will have found several tens of planets that SPICES will be able to observe and study in detail. Equipped with a 1.5 m telescope, SPICES can preferentially access exoplanets located at several AUs (0.5-10 AU) from nearby stars ($<$25 pc) with masses ranging from a few Jupiter masses to Super Earths ($\sim$2 Earth radii, $\sim$10 M$_{\oplus}$) as well as circumstellar disks as faint as a few times the zodiacal light in the Solar System.