MINERVA: Purchase of Kiwispec, a Robotic Precision Spectrograph to Detect Earth-Like Planets Around Nearby Stars

在过去的20年里，天文学家已经发现了数千颗围绕其他恒星的行星。 这些“系外行星”中的大多数都是像木星或土星这样的气体巨星。 要探测类似于地球或金星的较小系外行星-或具有较大质量的“超级地球”-需要非常高精度的测量。 研究人员将使用四个直径小于0.7米的小型望远镜完成这些测量。 光纤将把望远镜发出的光送入安装在温控真空环境中的光谱仪。 天文学家将使用这台名为“MINERVA”的仪器来探测附近明亮恒星周围的类地行星或超级地球。 这些观测通过增加我们对类地系外行星的识别来服务于国家利益。首席研究员还将使用MINERVA在天文学课程中进行远程观测，并通过他在哈佛创建的Banneker研究所招募代表性不足的少数民族进入STEM职业。研究人员将建造美国第一个致力于精确径向速度和凌日光度测量的机器人设施。 该设施名为MINERVA，将使用四个0.7米的望远镜，同时为一个小型台式光谱仪提供光纤。 光谱仪预计将达到0.8米/秒的精度相结合的稳定性，真空和温度控制的环境与光纤扰频和碘池校准方法。 大多数设备已经到位，可以自动操作;只有光谱仪还有待安装和调试。 该项目的智力价值是发现附近明亮恒星周围的类地行星以及明亮类日恒星可居住区中的超级地球的潜力。 该项目的更广泛影响是巨大的。 它们包括开展教育和公众宣传活动的自然潜力。 这些望远镜还将用于伙伴机构天文学课程的远程观测。 更重要的是，PI在哈佛创建了Banneker研究所，其具体目的是积极招募代表性不足的少数民族进入天文学和STEM学科。

Over the past 20 years, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets around other stars. Most of these "exoplanets" are gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn. To detect smaller exoplanets similar to Earth or Venus - or "super Earths" with larger masses - requires very high-precision measurements. The Investigators will accomplish these measurements using four small telescopes, each less than 0.7 meters in diameter. Optical fibers will feed light from the telescopes into a spectrograph mounted in a temperature-controlled vacuum environment. Astronomers will use this instrument - named "MINERVA" - to detect Earth-like planets or super-Earths around nearby bright stars. These observations serve the national interest by increasing our identification of Earth-like exoplanets. The Principal Investigator will also use MINERVA for remote observing in astronomy classes, and through the Banneker Institute he created at Harvard to recruit under-represented minorities into STEM careers.The Investigators will construct the first U.S. robotic facility dedicated to precise radial velocities and transit photometry. Named MINERVA, this facility will employ four 0.7-meter telescopes that simultaneously fiber-feed a small bench-mounted spectrometer. The spectrometer is expected to reach 0.8 m/s precision by combining the stability of an evacuated and temperature-controlled environment with fiber scrambling and the iodine-cell calibration method. Most of the equipment is already in place and robotically operational; only the spectrometer remains to be installed and commissioned. The Intellectual Merit of the project is the potential for discovering Earth-like planets around nearby, bright stars as well as super-Earths in the habitable zones of bright, Sun-like stars. The Broader Impacts of the project are substantial. They include a natural potential for educational and public-outreach activities. The telescopes will also be used for remote observing in astronomy courses at the partner institutions. Even more important, the PI has created the Banneker Institute at Harvard with the specific purpose of actively recruiting under-represented minorities to astronomy and STEM disciplines more generally.