Searching for Rocky Planets with APF

Lick天文台新委托的2.4米自动行星发现望远镜将用于搜索其他恒星周围的行星。这台遥控望远镜/摄谱仪是为稳定性和高频率而设计的，这将使径向速度精度远低于目前的1米/秒上限。在K型恒星附近的可居住区中，质量低至2 MEarth的系外行星和在类太阳恒星周围与地球相似距离的10 MEarth行星将被探测到。搜索将集中在120颗F，G和K型恒星上，亮度大于6.5等。特别重要的是调查对小轨道中的低质量（岩石）行星的敏感性，这些行星的统计数据和属性对于理解行星系统的形成非常重要。该项目将由PI和合作者沿着弗朗西斯科州立大学的本科生和研究生共同进行，他们将有机会参与系外行星项目，并在讲座和期刊上展示这些结果。

The newly commissioned 2.4-meter Automated Planet Finding telescope at the LickObservatory will be used to carry out a search for planets around other stars. Thisremotely operated telescope/spectrograph were designed for stability and high cadencesampling which will enable radial velocity precisions well below the current 1 m/s upperlimit. Exoplanets with masses down to 2MEarth in the habitable zones of nearby K-typestars and 10MEarth planets at Earth-like distances around sun-like stars will be detectable.The search will center on 120 F, G, and K-type stars with brightnesses greater than 6.5magnitudes in a V filter. Of particular importance is the survey's sensitivity to low mass(rocky) planets in small orbits whose statistics and properties are important inunderstanding the formation of planetary systems.The project will be carried out by the PI and collaborators along with undergraduate andgraduate students at San Francisco State who will have opportunities to work onexoplanets projects and present these results at talks and in journals.