MRI: Development of the Global Network of Robotic Echelle Spectrographs - NRES

MRI：机器人阶梯式光谱仪全球网络的发展 - NRES

• 批准号: 1229720
• 负责人: Timothy Brown
• 金额: $ 172.16万
• 依托单位: Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1229720&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Global; Network; Robotic

In recent years astronomers have observed over 1,000 stars that are thought to contain planetary systems akin to our own solar system, and new discoveries are rapidly being added. In order to confirm and characterize these systems, it is necessary to conduct numerous observations of the host stars. Telescopes collect the light from the star and pass it through a spectrograph that spreads the light out into a rainbow-like "spectrum" that can be analyzed to determine the velocity of the star as viewed from earth. If the observed velocity varies in a repeatable way it may be due to the presence of a companion object in orbit around the star. These observations require a considerable amount of telescope time and there is a shortage of the kinds of telescopes and spectrographs specifically designed to do this high precision work. This is especially problematic for so-called short period orbits, where the orbiting planet is close to its host star and the planetary "year" (the time for a full orbit around the host star) may be days or even hours. To determine the orbital characteristics of these objects frequent observations around the clock are required. As the earth rotates on its axis, however, stars, just like the sun and moon, set in the west, so they can only be seen for a few hours from a given observatory. Dr. Timothy Brown of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope network proposes to put identical spectrographs on several telescopes around the earth so that the stars can be monitored continuously as the earth turns. He and his team have designed a high resolution and very precise spectrograph and they will build six copies. Observations made with this network of spectrographs is certain to add considerably to our understanding of planetary systems. This work is funded by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through the Major Research Instrumentation program.

近年来，天文学家观察到了1000多颗恒星，这些恒星被认为包含类似于我们自己的太阳系的行星系统，并且正在迅速添加新发现。 为了确认和表征这些系统，有必要对宿主恒星进行大量观察。望远镜从恒星中收集光，并将其传递到光谱仪中，该光谱仪将光线传播到彩虹状的“光谱”中，可以分析以确定从地球观察到的恒星的速度。 如果观察到的速度以可重复的方式变化，则可能是由于围绕恒星绕轨道存在的伴侣对象所致。 这些观察结果需要相当多的望远镜时间，并且缺乏专门设计用于进行高精度工作的望远镜和光谱仪。 对于所谓的短期轨道，轨道行星靠近其主机恒星，而行星“年”（围绕寄主恒星的完整轨道的时间）可能是几天甚至数小时，这尤其有问题。 为了确定这些物体的轨道特性，需要在时钟周围经常观察。 然而，随着地球在其轴上旋转时，恒星就像太阳和月亮一样，在西部旋转，因此只能从给定的天文台看到它们几个小时。 Las Cumbres天文台全球望远镜网络的Timothy Brown博士建议将相同的光谱仪放在地球周围的几个望远镜上，以便可以随着地球的转动而连续监测恒星。 他和他的团队设计了高分辨率和非常精确的光谱仪，他们将建立六本副本。通过这种光谱仪网络进行的观察肯定会大大增加我们对行星系统的理解。这项工作是由NSF通过主要研究仪器计划的天文学科学部资助的。