COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH - Project 1640: Hyperspectral Imaging Survey of Nearby Stellar Environments

合作研究 - 项目 1640：附近恒星环境的高光谱成像调查

• 批准号: 0908497
• 负责人: Lynne Hillenbrand
• 金额: $ 28.51万
• 依托单位: California Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-15 至 2013-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0908497&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Project; 1640; Hyperspectral

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). In this project, Dr. Ben Oppenheimer of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and Dr. Lynne Hillenbrand of the California Institute of Technology will conduct a survey of nearby stars to detect planetary companions. They have previously developed a new instrument which has unprecedented sensitivity in the direct detection of planets near bright stars. The instrumentation is fully functional and initial observations on the Palomar 5-m telescope have already demonstrated a factor of 100 improvement in speckle suppression relative to other coronagraphs. With this project, they will begin a three-year survey with over 120 nights of guaranteed time on the Palomar telescope. There are two main goals: first, they will observe fainter and younger stars than current systems can track utilizing a new type of speckle suppression technique recently demonstrated from Palomar; second, with the implementation of Palomar's 3000 actuator adaptive-optics system in 2010, they will begin a survey of the brightest (youngest) stars in the Northern hemisphere to find exoplanets and measure their spectra. The project should yield a significant sample of exoplanets and other objects (from brown dwarfs to disks) in orbit around nearby stars. The research team will involve undergraduates through programs at AMNH and at Caltech's SURF Program, as well as high-school students from under-represented groups, through the museum's high-school research program. They will also bring the Museum's AstroBulletin program of biweekly news items and twice-yearly documentaries to the Palomar Observatory's Visitor Center, so that current science is continuously presented to that museum's more than 100,000 visitors per year. These AstroBulletins reach over 11 million people through AMNH and 45 partner institutions around the world. Palomar would be the newest partner institution under this program.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。在这个项目中，美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）的Ben Oppenheimer博士和加州理工学院的Lynne Hillenbrand博士将对附近的恒星进行调查，以探测行星伴星。他们之前开发了一种新仪器，在直接探测明亮恒星附近的行星方面具有前所未有的灵敏度。该仪器功能齐全，对Palomar 5米望远镜的初步观测已经表明，与其他日冕仪相比，斑点抑制性能提高了100倍。通过这个项目，他们将开始为期三年的调查，在帕洛玛望远镜上保证超过120个夜晚的时间。有两个主要目标：首先，他们将利用最近在帕洛玛实验室演示的一种新型斑点抑制技术，观测比现有系统所能跟踪的更暗、更年轻的恒星;其次，随着帕洛玛实验室的3000个致动器自适应光学系统在2010年的实施，他们将开始对北方半球最亮（最年轻）的恒星进行巡天，以寻找系外行星并测量它们的光谱。该项目将产生大量的系外行星和其他天体（从褐矮星到盘）的样本，这些天体都在附近恒星的轨道上。该研究小组将通过AMNH和加州理工学院SURF项目的本科生，以及通过博物馆的高中研究项目的代表性不足的高中生。他们还将把博物馆的AstroBulletin计划的双周新闻项目和每年两次的纪录片带到帕洛玛天文台的游客中心，以便将当前的科学不断地呈现给博物馆每年超过10万的游客。这些AstroBulletins通过AMNH和世界各地的45个合作机构覆盖了1100多万人。Palomar将是该计划下最新的合作机构。