The beta Pictoris b Ring (bRing) survey of the southern sky
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2019.
Considering the high frequency of gas giant planets orbiting stars, and theoretical simulations showing that primordial circumplanetary disks and the formation of satellite systems are likely to be ubiquitous byproducts of the planet formation process, it seems likely that our Galaxy contains trillions of large satellites orbiting gas giant planets. Famous examples in our solar system (e.g. Enceladus, Europa) contain subsurface oceans, which could be habitable. Speculation on the origins of moons, and properties of the circumplanetary disks that spawned them, has been spurred by spacecraft reconnaissance of moons in recent decades. Only now is it becoming possible to probe young giant planets for such disks and study their properties. Observations of circumplanetary disks will provide insights into the formation of moons in our own solar system and constraints on the formation of exomoons, which may be important abodes for life in the universe. The 2017-2018 (near) transit event of the imaged giant exoplanet β Pictoris b in front of the bright star β Pictoris presented a unique opportunity to probe the circumplanetary environment of a young giant planet, and one where astronomical observations could help constrain the early conditions for the formation and early evolution of gas giant planets and their satellites. The β Pictoris b Ring (bRing) observatory was designed to monitor the 2017-2018 near transit of β Pictoris b and the brightest stars (V = 4–8 mag) in the southern sky (δ ≤ -30◦). This dissertation aims to describe the instrument and its data products as well as its discoveries, which include results from the β Pictoris b Hill sphere transit survey, a detailed study of the new δ Scuti star HD 156623, and a comprehensive study of bright variable stars in the bRing dataset.
