The Tierras Observatory: An Ultra-precise Time-series Photometer to Characterize Nearby Low-mass Stars and Their Terrestrial Exoplanets

由哈佛大学领导的一个团队将对附近的小行星进行为期三年的调查，以寻找更多太小或太冷而无法通过之前的空间或地面项目发现的行星。该团队还将监测具有长轨道周期的已知行星，以寻找卫星或环系。该团队将开展一项长期活动，以确定体积完整样本中的低质量恒星(质量为太阳的10%-30%)的自转周期。该项目将为学生和研究员提供培训机会，还将使无法使用大型研究望远镜的科学家进行研究。该团队将提供参与材料，并扩大他们的YouTube频道的收视率。来自美墨边境城镇里约热内卢和亚利桑那州诺加莱斯的初中生和高中生将参观这台望远镜，并参与了解行星搜索和望远镜设计的活动。尽管系外行星的研究在过去十年中取得了巨大进展，但我们目前的天文台仍然无法掌握许多太阳系居民的相似之处。大多数已知的类地系外行星都比地球大得多，除了几个值得注意的例外，火星和水星大小的行星是否很常见仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。还没有发现类似于伽利略卫星、我们的月球或环行星环绕系外行星运行的轨道。时间序列光度学是在这些问题上取得重大进展的途径。蒂拉斯天文台是一台翻新的1.3米超精密全自动光度计，位于亚利桑那州霍普金斯山顶的F.L.惠普尔天文台。蒂拉斯的设计目标是在10分钟和整个观测季节的时间尺度上，定期实现百万分之250的光度测量精度。天文台目前在科学模式下运行，并经常达到其设计的光度精度。蒂拉斯准备进行一项为期三年的调查，以探测像水星这样小的温带类地行星，并搜索系外卫星。此外，通过测量未探测到的低质量恒星的自转周期，蒂拉斯还将阐明其伴生系外行星的照射环境。这一裁决反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A team led by Harvard University will perform a three-year survey of nearby small stars in pursuit of additional planets that are too small or too cool to be found by previous space- or ground-based programs. The team will also monitor known planets with long orbital periods to search for moons or systems of rings. The team will undertake a long term campaign to determine the rotation periods of low-mass stars (with 10-30% the mass of the Sun) in a volume complete sample. The project will provide training opportunities for students and fellows and will also enable research by scientists who do not have access to large research telescopes. The team will provide engagement materials and grow viewership of their YouTube channel. Middle and high school students from the US-Mexico border towns of Rio Rico and Nogales, AZ, will visit the telescope and engage in activities to learn about the search for planets and the design of telescopes.Although the study of exoplanets has seen dramatic advances in the past decade, the analogs of many of the denizens of our own Solar system remain beyond the grasp of our current observatories. Most of the known terrestrial exoplanets are significantly larger than the Earth, and, with a few notable exceptions, it remains an open question whether Mars and Mercury-sized worlds are a commonplace. No analogs of the Galilean satellites, or our Moon, or circumplanetary rings has yet been discovered to orbit an exoplanet. Time-series photometry is a path to significant progress on these questions. The Tierras Observatory is a refurbished 1.3-m ultra-precise fully-automated photometer located at the F.L. Whipple Observatory atop Mount Hopkins, Arizona. Tierras is designed to regularly achieve a photometric precision of 250 parts-per-million on a time scale of both 10 minutes and across an observing season. The observatory is now operating in science mode and regularly achieving its design photometric precision. Tierras is ready to undertake a three-year survey to detect temperate terrestrial planets as small as Mercury and search for exo-satellites. Additionally, by measuring the undetected rotation periods of low-mass stars, Tierras will also elucidate the irradiation environment of their attendant exoplanets.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.