Fig. 4: Sensitivity of the NEAR data.
From: Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zone of α Centauri
Results for α Centauri A & B are shown in (a) and (b), respectively. The bold curve shows the sensitivity to point sources computed from simulated injection and recovery tests and the dashed curve shows the background noise contribution from the variation of pixel-to-pixel intensities. The red and blue curves represent simulated planets of equivalent radii to those in the solar system, with the addition of an R = 1.7 R⊕ Super-Earth (SE). Each model planet’s temperature is set by the assumption of thermal equilibrium at a given separation with an AB = 0.3 Bond albedo and internal heating included as 10% or 50% of the equilibrium temperature; similar to conditions of the solar system planets46,47.
