Mission to Alpha Centauri

在附近的半人马座阿尔法星系统中，应该可以探测到质量和轨道周期类似于金星、地球和火星的行星系统，使用目前2米/S的多普勒精度和极端节奏：每晚都有数百次观测。这种观测节奏可以达到每秒几厘米的有效精度，这将足以探测到由此类行星引起的反射运动。该奖项将资助一个最初的12个月计划，在该计划中，费舍尔博士和他的合作者将使用最近退役的Blanco光谱仪，该光谱仪与Cerro Tolo美洲天文台(CTIO)的1.5米中小口径研究望远镜系统(SMARTS)联盟望远镜相耦合。2007年8月进行的初步观测提供了一组有希望的太阳径向速度，表明这台光谱仪应该能够产生高精度的径向速度。这一计划有可能促进地面多普勒探测战略的巨大变化，这将有助于为未来的科学资金和资源分配提供信息。该计划是评估多普勒技术是否可以扩展到寻找潜在宜居的类地行星的关键一步。这些结果可能会影响到有关空间飞行任务的资金和方案决定，并可能有助于为下一次关于行星探测战略的十年审查提供信息。该计划还将重振CTIO目前订户不足的1.5米望远镜的使用，为Smarts和一般用户社区提供一项重要的新功能。这些观测还将提供关于恒星结构和对流区的史无前例的信息，对围棋恒星半人马座阿尔法星A和KO恒星半人马座阿尔法星B进行不同的比较。

A system of planets with masses and orbital periods similar to Venus, Earth and Mars should be detectable in the nearby alpha Centauri star system using the current Doppler precision of 2 m/s and extreme cadence: hundreds of observations per night, every possible night. This observing cadence could achieve an effective (phase-binned) precision of a few centimeters per second, which would be sufficient to detect the reflex motion caused by such planets.This award will fund an initial 12-month program in which Dr. Fischer and collaborators will use the recently decommissioned Blanco spectrometer, fiber-coupled to the 1.5-m Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) consortium telescope at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). Preliminary observations made in August 2007 provided a promising set of radial velocities for the Sun, suggesting that this spectrometer should be capable of producing high precision radial velocities. This program has the potential to catalyze dramatic changes in the strategy for ground-based Doppler surveys that will help inform future allocation of science funding and resources.This program is a critical step for assessing whether the Doppler technique can be extended to the search for potentially habitable, terrestrial planets. The results could impact funding and programmatic decisions about space missions and could contribute to informing the next Decadal Review about planet detection strategies. This program will also re-invigorate use of a currently undersubscribed 1.5-m telescope at CTIO, providing an important new capability to SMARTS and the user community in general. The observations will also provide unprecedented information about stellar structure and convective zones, differentially comparing the GO star, alpha Centauri A, and the KO star, alpha Centauri B.