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运行的行星。这些“系外行星”大多是像木星或土星这样的气体巨星。要探测类似地球或金星的较小系外行星--或质量较大的“超级地球”--需要非常高精度的测量。研究人员将使用四个小型望远镜完成这些测量，每个望远镜的直径都不到0.7米。光纤将把来自望远镜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。首席调查员还将在天文学课程中使用Minerva进行远程观测，并通过他在哈佛创建的Banneker研究所招募代表不足的少数族裔进入STEM职业生涯。调查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。这个名为Minerva的设施将使用四个0.7米长的望远镜，同时为一个小型台式光谱仪提供光纤馈送。通过将真空温控环境的稳定性与光纤扰乱和碘池校准方法相结合，该光谱仪有望达到0.8m/S的精度。大部分设备已经就位，并可由机器人操作；只有光谱仪还有待安装和调试。该项目的学术价值是有可能在附近发现类似地球的行星，明亮的恒星，以及由明亮的类太阳恒星组成的宜居带中的超级地球。该项目的广泛影响是巨大的。它们包括教育和公共宣传活动的天然潜力。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，国际天文学联合会在哈佛创建了班纳克研究所，其具体目的是积极招募代表不足的少数族裔进入天文学和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.