MEarth Project
{{Short description|Part of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona}}
The MEarth Project (pronounced mirth{{cite web |url=https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/MEarth/Welcome.html |title=The MEarth Project: Searching for Habitable Exoplanets around Nearby Small Stars}}) is a NSF-funded{{cite web
|url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1616624
|title=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
}} project in the United States. It is a robotic exoplanet observatory that is part of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins in Arizona. The project monitors the brightness of thousands of red dwarf stars with the goal of finding transiting 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.{{cite journal
|first1=Jonathan
|last1=Irwin
|first2=David
|last2=Charbonneau
|first3=Philip
|last3=Nutzman
|first4=Emilio
|last4=Falco
|title=The MEarth project: searching for transiting habitable super-Earths around nearby M dwarfs
|journal=Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
|volume=4
|issue=Symposium S253
|pages=37–43
|date=2008-05-01
|doi=10.1017/S1743921308026215
|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-international-astronomical-union/article/mearth-project-searching-for-transiting-habitable-superearths-around-nearby-m-dwarfs/DBEE91A487BA2CABE87D4CCD93FCE156
|arxiv=0807.1316
}}
Equipment
The original MEarth-North{{Cite web | url=https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/MEarth/Telescopes.html |title = The MEarth Project: Telescopes}} observatory on Mount Hopkins consists of eight RC Optical Systems {{Convert|40|cm|in|abbr=on }} {{f/}}9 Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes equipped with 2048 × 2048 Apogee U42 CCDs, infrared filters, and equatorial mounts.{{cite journal
|first1=Zachory
|last1=Berta
|first2=Jonathan
|last2=Irwin
|first3=David
|last3=Charbonneau
|first4=Christopher
|last4=Burke
|first5=Emilio
|last5=Falco
|title=Transit Detection in the MEarth Survey of Nearby M Dwarfs: Bridging the Clean-First, Search-Later Divide
|journal=The Astronomical Journal
|volume=144
|issue=5
|date=2012-10-11
|page=145
|doi=10.1088/0004-6256/144/5/145
|url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-6256/144/5/145
|arxiv=1206.4715
|bibcode=2012AJ....144..145B
}}
It began operation in January 2008.
In 2014, the MEarth-South observatory began operations{{cite journal
|first1=Elisabeth
|last1=Newton
|first2=Nicholas
|last2=Mondrik
|first3=Jonathan
|last3=Irwin
|first4=Jennifer
|last4=Winters
|first5=David
|last5=Charbonneau
|title=New Rotation Period Measurements for M Dwarfs in the Southern Hemisphere: An Abundance of Slowly Rotating, Fully Convective Stars
|journal=The Astronomical Journal
|volume=156
|issue=5
|date=2018-10-18
|page=217
|doi=10.3847/1538-3881/aad73b
|arxiv=1807.09365
|doi-access=free
|bibcode=2018AJ....156..217N
}} at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory site east of La Serena, Chile, extending MEarth's coverage to the southern celestial hemisphere using a nearly identical eight-telescope array. Unlike MEarth-North, the telescopes in Chile are also sensitive to red light.
Planets discovered
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website |https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/MEarth/Welcome.html}}
{{Exoplanet search projects}}