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

这个项目将建造一个仪器来测量围绕其他恒星运行的行星的大气。该仪器将同时在多个波长拍摄一颗恒星和一颗凌日系外行星的图像。大气的含量是通过观测到的星光颜色的变化来探测的。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，并表明我们的太阳系在其他有行星的恒星系统中是否不同寻常。本项目将为本科生和研究生提供天文仪器方面的培训机会。开发工作将在德克萨斯州农工大学的Munnerlyn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一般公众，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来确定大量围绕明亮恒星运行的系外行星周围大气的存在和组成。系外行星透射光谱成像仪（ETSI）将是同类仪器中第一个能够在中型望远镜上运行的仪器，它将被部署在位于HI Haleakala的Las Cumbres天文台（LCO）的2米望远镜上。在系外行星凌日期间在各种波段测量的相对通量（相对于附近比较星测量的通量）将揭示大气特征（瑞利散射，原子和分子吸收，云等）或以高可信度排除它们。ETSI可以观测到大量来自现有和正在进行的地面凌日搜索和最近的天基调查（如凌日系外行星调查卫星（TESS））的潜在目标，因此该仪器将能够首次对银河系中行星大气的存在和特征进行统计上显著的分析。这项研究将首次揭示我们的太阳系是独特的还是不寻常的，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知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.