VROOMM: A High-Resolution Optical Echelle Spectrograph for the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic

该计划的最终目标是找到最近的宜居类地行星，测量它们的质量，探测它们的大气层，并确定它们的化学成分，这是我们寻求太阳系外生命的关键垫脚石。通过开发几个专门用于探测和表征系外行星的前沿仪器设施，我们的团队在这一令人兴奋的努力中处于国际领先地位。凌日系外行星是关键系统;从我们的角度来看，它们是碰巧经过它们的星星前面的行星，每次轨道运行都会导致它们的通量轻微变暗。 * 我们的团队正在为梅冈蒂克山天文台（OMM）的1.6米望远镜开发一台高分辨率光纤光谱仪VROOMM，这是一种专门用于以非常高的精度（几米/秒）测量附近明亮恒星的径向速度的仪器，这些恒星被怀疑拥有一颗或几颗凌日系外行星。这些新的行星系统将很快通过几项调查公布，其中包括过境系外行星调查卫星（TESS），这是美国宇航局今年开始运作的一项使命，对附近的系外行星进行全天搜索。TESS预计将发现至少1700个新的附近过境系统，包括最适合居住的世界候选者，詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜（JWST）探测其大气层的主要目标，以寻找水，二氧化碳和其他参与生物活动的分子。我们计划将OMM时间的很大一部分（~2/3）用于VROOMM，其观测结果将用于确认TESS候选者的系外行星性质，并对这些新的系外行星及其宿主星星进行详细研究。VROOMM将与其他专门从事系外行星研究的设施密切协作，如加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜上的SPIRou和NIRISS，后者是加拿大建造的JWST仪器，其观测模式专门用于系外行星的大气研究。* VROOMM是一种独特的光子计数高分辨率光学摄谱仪，也将成为未来巨型地面和空间望远镜中生物特征探测专用仪器的第一个开拓者。VROOMM也是一种通用仪器，将使加拿大各地的大量用户受益，能够进行广泛的科学应用，从确定各种质量的恒星的基本参数到研究附近星系的恒星群。VROOMM将为加拿大数十名研究生的工作提供世界上独一无二的仪器。RTI的资金被要求配备一个专门的校准单元，将提高仪器径向速度性能至少一个数量级的VROOMM。这是实现测量围绕低质量恒星运行的小行星质量所需的几米/秒精度的关键。

The ultimate objective of this proposal is to find the nearest habitable terrestrial planets, measure their mass, probe their atmosphere and to determine their chemical composition which is a key stepping-stone in our quest for Life outside the Solar System. Through the development of several forefront instrumental facilities specialized for the detection and characterisation of exoplanets, our team is positioned for forefront international leadership in this exciting endeavour. Transiting exoplanets are key systems; they are planets that happen to pass, from our perspective, in front of their star once every orbit, causing a slight dimming of their flux. *** Our team is developing a high-resolution fiber-fed optical spectrograph, VROOMM, for the 1.6m telescope of the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic (OMM), an instrument specialized for measuring, with very high accuracy (a few m/s), the radial velocity of nearby bright stars suspected to host one or several transiting exoplanets. These new planetary systems will soon be unveiled by several surveys including the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a NASA mission that started its operation this year, to conduct an all-sky search for nearby exoplanets. TESS is predicted to find at least 1700 new, nearby transiting systems, including the best habitable world candidates, prime targets for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to probe their atmosphere, in search of water, CO2 and other molecules involved in biological activity.*** We plan on dedicating a significant fraction (~2/3) of OMM time to VROOMM, whose observations will be used to confirm the exoplanet nature of the TESS candidates and enable detailed studies of these new exoplanets and their host star. VROOMM will work in close synergy with other facilities specialized for exoplanet studies such as SPIRou on the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope and NIRISS, the Canadian-built JWST instrument featuring an observing mode specialized for atmospheric studies of exoplanets. *** VROOMM is a unique photon-counting high-resolution optical spectrograph that will also serve as the first pathfinder of instruments specialized for biosignature detection anticipated in future giant ground- and space-based telescopes. VROOMM is also a general-purpose instrument that will benefit a large pool of users across Canada, enabling a wide range of scientific applications, from the determination of the fundamental parameters of stars of all mass, to stellar population studies of nearby galaxies. VROOMM will feed the work of several tens of graduate students across Canada working with a unique instrument in the world.*** RTI funding is requested to equip VROOMM with a specialized calibration unit that will improve the instrument radial velocity performance by at least an order of magnitude. This is key to enabling the precision of a few m/s that is required for measuring the mass of small planets orbiting around low-mass stars.*****