Mission to Alpha Centauri

在邻近的半人马座阿尔法星系统中，一个质量和轨道周期与金星、地球和火星相似的行星系统应该可以被探测到，使用目前2米/秒的多普勒精度和极端的节奏：每晚数百次观测，每个可能的夜晚。这种观测的节奏可以达到每秒几厘米的有效精度，这将足以探测到由这些行星引起的反射运动。该奖项将资助一个为期12个月的初始项目，在该项目中，Fischer博士和合作者将使用最近退役的Blanco光谱仪，该光谱仪与Cerro Tololo美洲天文台（CTIO）的1.5 m小孔径和中等孔径研究望远镜系统（SMARTS）联盟望远镜光纤耦合。2007年8月进行的初步观测为太阳提供了一组有希望的径向速度，这表明该光谱仪应该能够产生高精度的径向速度。这个项目有可能催化地面多普勒测量战略的巨大变化，这将有助于为未来的科学资金和资源分配提供信息。这个项目是评估多普勒技术是否可以扩展到寻找可能适合居住的类地行星的关键一步。研究结果可能影响有关空间任务的供资和方案决策，并可能有助于为下一次行星探测战略的十年审查提供信息。该项目还将重新激活CTIO目前订购不足的1.5米望远镜的使用，为SMARTS和用户群体提供重要的新能力。观测还将提供前所未有的关于恒星结构和对流带的信息，不同于GO星，半人马座α A和KO星，半人马座α B。

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.