LkCa 15 b, c and d prove elusive

摘要

SCExAO, an instrument for the directimaging of exoplanets on the SubaruTelescope, has done the opposite of whatit was designed to do. Thayne Currie et al.took recent SCExAO observations of youngSun-like star LkCa 15 and its system of threecandidate planets and combined them withextensive modelling to show that the planetsdo not exist — the signals interpreted asplanets are likely to be features of the star’sprotoplanetary disk instead. Any real planetsin the system must be fainter than thecandidates, and probably lower in mass thansuggested (sub-Jupiter mass). Such planetsmight be revealed after the upcomingSCExAO upgrade.