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

MINERVA：购买 Kiwispec，一种机器人精密摄谱仪，用于探测附近恒星周围的类地行星

• 批准号: 1608203
• 负责人: John Johnson
• 金额: $ 108.95万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1608203&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MINERVA; Purchase; Kiwispec; Robotic; Precision

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.

在过去的20年中，天文学家在其他恒星周围发现了数千个行星。 这些“系外行星”中的大多数是木星或土星等天然气巨头。 要检测类似于地球或金星类似的较小的系外行星 - 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小型望远镜完成这些测量，每个望远镜的直径小于0.7米。 光纤将使望远镜从温度控制的真空环境中馈入光谱仪。 天文学家将使用该仪器（名为“密涅瓦”）来检测附近明亮恒星周围的地球状行星或超地球。 这些观察结果通过增加我们对类似地球的系外行星的识别来实现国家利益。首席研究人员还将使用Minerva在天文学类别中进行远程观察，并通过他在哈佛创建的Banneker Institute将代表性不足的少数族裔招募到STEM职业中。研究人员将建造第一个专门用于精确的辐射速度和传输光度的美国机器人设施。 该设施被称为Minerva，将采用四个0.7米的望远镜，同时向小型台式光谱仪进行纤维喂养。 通过将疏散和温度控制的环境与纤维扰流和碘细胞校准方法相结合，预计光谱仪将达到0.8 m/s的精度。 大多数设备已经到位，并在机器人上运行；只有光谱仪仍有待安装和委托。 该项目的智力优点是在附近发现类似地球的行星，明亮的恒星以及在明亮的，阳光般的恒星的可居住区域中的超级地球的潜力。 该项目的更广泛影响是巨大的。 它们包括自然的教育和公共造影活动的潜力。 望远镜还将用于合作机构的天文学课程中的远程观察。 更重要的是，PI在哈佛大学创建了Banneker研究所，其特定目的是积极招募代表性不足的少数民族从事天文学和STEM学科。