MRI: Development of An Instrument to Measure the Atmospheres of Exoplanets

MRI：开发测量系外行星大气层的仪器

• 批准号: 1920312
• 负责人: Darren DePoy
• 金额: $ 52.63万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1920312&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Instrument; Measure; Atmospheres

This project will build an instrument to measure the atmospheres of planets that orbit other stars. The instrument will image a star with a transiting exoplanet at many wavelengths at the same time. The contents of the atmosphere are detected by changes in color of the observed starlight. Making use of existing exoplanet surveys, the instrument will be able to make the first large study of exoplanet atmospheres. This could identify potentially habitable worlds around other stars, and show if our solar system is unusual among other star systems with planets. This project will provide opportunities for training undergraduate students and a graduate student in astronomical instrumentation. Development will take place at the Munnerlyn Astronomical Instrumentation Laboratory at Texas A&M University, which has an established record broadening participation in astronomical instrumentation research. Results of this research will appeal to the general public and be disseminated through news and social media.This project will build an instrument specifically designed to determine the presence and composition of atmospheres around a large number of exoplanets orbiting bright stars using existing ground-based telescopes. The Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager (ETSI) will be the first instrument of its kind capable of operating on medium sized telescopes, and it will be deployed on the 2m telescope at the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) at Haleakala, HI. Relative fluxes measured in the various bandpasses during exoplanet transits (relative to the fluxes measured for a nearby comparison star) will either reveal atmospheric features (Rayleigh scattering, atomic and molecular absorption, clouds, etc.) or rule them out with high confidence. A very large number of potential targets from existing and on-going ground-based transit searches and recent space-based surveys such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) are observable with ETSI, so the instrument will be capable of making the first statistically-significant significant assay of the existence and characteristics of planet atmospheres in the Galaxy. This study will be the first to reveal whether our solar system is unique or unusual and it could identify potentially habitable worlds around other stars.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将建造一种仪器来测量绕其他恒星运行的行星的大气层。该仪器将同时以多种波长对一颗恒星和一颗凌日系外行星进行成像。通过观测到的星光颜色的变化来检测大气的含量。利用现有的系外行星调查，该仪器将能够对系外行星大气进行首次大规模研究。这可以识别其他恒星周围潜在的宜居世界，并显示我们的太阳系在其他拥有行星的恒星系统中是否不寻常。该项目将为天文仪器方面的本科生和研究生提供培训机会。开发将在德克萨斯农工大学的蒙纳林天文仪器实验室进行，该实验室在扩大天文仪器研究的参与方面有着良好的记录。这项研究的结果将吸引公众，并通过新闻和社交媒体传播。该项目将建造一种专门设计的仪器，利用现有的地面望远镜确定围绕明亮恒星运行的大量系外行星周围大气的存在和成分。系外行星透射光谱成像仪 (ETSI) 将是同类中第一台能够在中型望远镜上运行的仪器，并将部署在位于夏威夷州哈雷阿卡拉的拉斯昆布雷斯天文台 (LCO) 的 2m 望远镜上。系外行星凌日期间在各种带通中测量的相对通量（相对于附近对比恒星测量的通量）将揭示大气特征（瑞利散射、原子和分子吸收、云等）或以高置信度排除它们。现有和正在进行的地面凌日搜索以及最近的天基勘测（例如凌日系外行星勘测卫星（TESS））中的大量潜在目标都可以通过 ETSI 进行观测，因此该仪器将能够对银河系中行星大气的存在和特征进行首次具有统计意义的重要分析。这项研究将首次揭示我们的太阳系是否独特或不寻常，并且它可以识别其他恒星周围潜在的宜居世界。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

The Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager (ETSI)

系外行星透射光谱成像仪 (ETSI)

• DOI: 10.1117/12.2562371
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII
• 作者: Limbach, Mary Anne;Schmidt, Luke M.;DePoy, Darren L.;Mason, Jeffrey C.;Scobey, Mike;Brown, Pat;Taylor, Chelsea;Marshall, Jennifer L.
• 通讯作者: Marshall, Jennifer L.