Searching for Rocky Planets with APF

利克天文台新启用的2.4米自动行星寻找望远镜将用于搜索其他恒星周围的行星。这台遥控望远镜/光谱仪是为稳定和高速度采样而设计的，这将使径向速度精度远远低于目前1米/S的上限。在附近K型恒星的宜居带内可以探测到质量小于2Mearth的系外行星，在类太阳恒星周围类似地球距离的10Mearth行星将被探测到。搜索将集中在V滤光片中亮度大于6.5星等的120颗F、G和K型恒星。特别重要的是这项调查对小轨道低质量(岩石)行星的敏感性，这些行星的统计数据和性质对于理解行星系统的形成非常重要。该项目将由PI及其合作者以及旧金山州立大学的本科生和研究生实施，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.