MEarth Project
The MEarth Project(pronouncedmirth[1]) is a United StatesNSF-funded[2]roboticexoplanetobservatory that is part of theFred Lawrence Whipple ObservatoryonMount Hopkins.The project monitors the brightness of thousands ofred dwarfstars with the goal of findingtransiting planets.As red dwarf stars are small, any transiting planet blocks a larger proportion of starlight than transits around a Sun-like star would, allowing smaller planets to be detected through ground-based observations.[3]
Equipment
[edit]The originalMEarth-North[4]observatory on Mount Hopkins consists of eightRC Optical Systems40 cm (16 in)f/9Ritchey-Chrétien telescopesequipped with 2048 × 2048 Apogee U42 CCDs, infrared filters, andequatorial mounts.[5] It began observations in January 2008.[3]
In 2014, theMEarth-Southobservatory began operations[6]from theCerro Tololo Inter-American Observatorysite east ofLa Serena, Chile,extending MEarth's coverage to thesouthern celestial hemisphereusing a nearly-identical eight-telescope array.[4]Unlike MEarth-North, the telescopes in Chile are also sensitive to red light.[4]
Planets discovered
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"The MEarth Project: Searching for Habitable Exoplanets around Nearby Small Stars".
- ^"Award Abstract # 1616624: The MEarth Project: An All Sky Survey of the Closest Low-mass Stars to Uncover the Very Best Terrestrial Exoplanets for Further Study".
- ^abIrwin, Jonathan; Charbonneau, David; Nutzman, Philip; Falco, Emilio (2008-05-01)."The MEarth project: searching for transiting habitable super-Earths around nearby M dwarfs".Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union.4(Symposium S253): 37–43.arXiv:0807.1316.doi:10.1017/S1743921308026215.
- ^abc"The MEarth Project: Telescopes".
- ^Berta, Zachory; Irwin, Jonathan; Charbonneau, David; Burke, Christopher; Falco, Emilio (2012-10-11)."TRANSIT DETECTION IN THE MEarth SURVEY OF NEARBY M DWARFS: BRIDGING THE CLEAN-FIRST, SEARCH-LATER DIVIDE".The Astronomical Journal.144(5): 145.arXiv:1206.4715.doi:10.1088/0004-6256/144/5/145.
- ^Newton, Elisabeth; Mondrik, Nicholas; Irwin, Jonathan; Winters, Jennifer; Charbonneau, David (2018-10-18)."New Rotation Period Measurements for M Dwarfs in the Southern Hemisphere: An Abundance of Slowly Rotating, Fully Convective Stars".The Astronomical Journal.156(5): 217.arXiv:1807.09365.doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aad73b.
- ^"Welcome to LHS 1140b: A Super-Earth in the Habitable Zone".2017-04-20.
External links
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