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The MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA) is a ground-based robotic dedicated
Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA)
I. Design, Commissioning, and First Science Results *
Minerva-Red
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Outer space Astronomical instruments Astronomical surveys Exoplanet search projects Optical telescopes
The MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA) is a ground-based robotic dedicated exoplanet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...
observatory. The facility is an array of small-aperture robotic telescopes outfitted for both photometry
Photometry can refer to:
* Photometry (optics), the science of measurement of visible light in terms of its perceived brightness to human vision
* Photometry (astronomy), the measurement of the flux or intensity of an astronomical object's electr ...
and high-resolution Doppler spectroscopy
Doppler spectroscopy (also known as the radial-velocity method, or colloquially, the wobble method) is an indirect method for finding extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs from radial-velocity measurements via observation of Doppler shifts in ...
located at the U.S. Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory
The Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory is an American astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO); it is their largest field installation outside of their main site in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. The project's principal investigator is the American astronomer Jason Eastman. The telescopes were manufactured by PlaneWave Instruments.
Science objectives
The primary science goal of MINERVA is to discover Earth-like planets in close-in (less than 50-day) orbits around nearby stars, and super-Earths (3-15 times the mass of Earth) in the habitable zones of the closest Sun-like stars. The secondary goal is to look for transits (eclipses) of known and newly discovered extrasolar planets. The unique design of the MINERVA observatory allows the pursuit of both goals simultaneously.Specifications and status
* Telescopes: Four PlaneWave CDK700, 0.7m telescopes within 2 custom telescope enclosures designed by LCOGT engineers. One MINERVA-Red telescope * Cameras: 2k × 2k back illuminated CCD with 15μm
The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...
pixels offering > 20’ f.o.v.
* Spectrograph: Stabilized, R = 75,000 echelle spectrograph
An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mater ...
with iodine cell for precise radial velocimetry designed by KiwiStar Optics (a business unit of Callaghan Innovation; a New Zealand government-owned Crown entity).
* Status: Full photometric science operations began in May 2015 at FLWO. The spectrograph was installed Dec 2015.
MINERVA-Red
MINERVA-Red is an echelle spectrograph optimized for the 'deep red', between 800 nm and 900 nm (where M-dwarfs are brightest) with a robotic 0.7 meter telescope. It uses a Fabry-Perot etalon and U/Ne lamp for wavelength calibration.See also
*List of extrasolar planets
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
Other exoplanet search projects
*HATNet Project
The Hungarian Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) project is a network of six small fully automated "HAT" telescopes. The scientific goal of the project is to detect and characterize extrasolar planets using the transit method. This network is us ...
(HAT)
* Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope
The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (or KELT) is an astronomical observation system formed by two robotic telescopes that are conducting a survey for transiting exoplanets around bright stars. The project is jointly administered by members ...
(KELT)
* Next-Generation Transit Survey
The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) is a ground-based robotic search for exoplanets. The facility is located at Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, about 2 km from ESO's Very Large Telescope and 0.5 km fr ...
(NGTS)
* Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey
The Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey, or ''TrES'', used three 4-inch (10 cm) telescopes located at Lowell Observatory, Palomar Observatory, and Teide Observatory to locate exoplanets. It was made using the network of small, relatively inexpens ...
(TrES)
* XO Telescope
The XO Project is an international team of amateur and professional astronomers tasked with identifying extrasolar planets. They are led by Peter R. McCullough of the Space Telescope Science Institute. It is primarily funded by NASA's Origins Pro ...
References
External links
Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA)
I. Design, Commissioning, and First Science Results *
Minerva-Red
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Outer space Astronomical instruments Astronomical surveys Exoplanet search projects Optical telescopes