SPECULOOS

Ultra-cool dwarf stars and brown dwarfs have a small radius, causing the transits caused by planets to be deeper. This allows the detection of terrestrial planets around these dwarfs, which are predicted to be common around brown dwarfs.{{Cite journal|last1=Payne|first1=Matthew J.|last2=Lodato|first2=Giuseppe|date=November 2007|title=The potential for Earth-mass planet formation around brown dwarfs|journal=MNRAS|language=en|volume=381|issue=4|pages=1597–1606|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12362.x|doi-access=free |arxiv=0709.0676|bibcode=2007MNRAS.381.1597P|s2cid=18055969|issn=0035-8711}} The TRAPPIST-1 system showed that ultra-cool dwarfs form terrestrial planets in the habitable zone. For brown dwarfs it was predicted that 175 of these objects need to be monitored to find one system with transiting planets.{{Cite journal|last1=He|first1=Matthias Y.|last2=Triaud|first2=Amaury H. M. J.|last3=Gillon|first3=Michaël|date=January 2017|title=First limits on the occurrence rate of short-period planets orbiting brown dwarfs|journal=MNRAS|language=en|volume=464|issue=3|pages=2687–2697|doi=10.1093/mnras/stw2391|doi-access=free |arxiv=1609.05053|bibcode=2017MNRAS.464.2687H|s2cid=53692008|issn=0035-8711}}

During the survey operation each telescope will observe one target for about 10 nights. This kind of observation is optimized for each target to find exoplanets in the habitable zone. To observe 500 targets in the southern hemisphere 1200 nights or 5 years are needed. The continuous observation of one target is needed to find these exoplanets in the habitable zone around ultra-cool dwarf stars. Such planets are expected to have a short transit duration, which can be small as 15 minutes.{{Cite book|last1=Burdanov|first1=Artem|last2=Delrez|first2=Laetitia|last3=Gillon|first3=Michaël|last4=Jehin|first4=Emmanuël|title=Handbook of Exoplanets |chapter=SPECULOOS Exoplanet Search and Its Prototype on TRAPPIST |date=2018 |language=en|pages=1007–1023|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-55333-7_130|arxiv=1710.03775|bibcode=2018haex.bookE.130B|isbn=978-3-319-55332-0|s2cid=54016210}}

File:Nebulosa testa di cavallo con SPECULOOS.jpg.]]

The system of SPECULOOS - South (SSO) comprises four telescopes called Europa, Io, Callisto, and Ganymede. The telescopes are named after the Galilean moons that orbit the planet Jupiter, the most massive planet in the Solar System. The first telescope (Europa) saw its first light in April 2017.[http://www.speculoos.uliege.be/cms/c_3555652/en/europa-first-light Europa First light!]. SPECULOOS. 20/04/2017 The second telescope (Io) began operations in October 2017.[http://www.speculoos.uliege.be/cms/c_3765405/en/io-europa-s-young-brother-is-installed Io, Europa’s young brother is installed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226073854/http://www.speculoos.uliege.be/cms/c_3765405/en/io-europa-s-young-brother-is-installed |date=2017-12-26 }}. SPECULOOS. 04/10/2017 As of December 2019, all SPECULOOS - South telescopes are operational.{{Cite web|url=https://www.speculoos.uliege.be/cms/c_4549211/en/speculoos-north-sno|title=SPECULNEW - SPECULOOS-Nord (SNO)|website=www.speculoos.uliege.be|language=en|access-date=2020-03-10}} ESO released first light images of SPECULOOS - South on the 2018-12-05. The telescopes did take images of the Carina Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula and the spiral galaxy Messier 83.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1839/|title=First Light for SPECULOOS - Four telescopes devoted to the search for habitable planets around nearby ultra-cool stars get off to a successful start at ESO's Paranal Observatory|last=|website=www.eso.org|language=en|access-date=2020-03-10}} Artemis is the first telescope for SPECULOOS - North (SNO) it began operations on June 20, 2019.

The robotic observations of each of the four telescopes is controlled by the program ACP Expert.{{Cite web | url=https://www.eso.org/public/chile/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/speculoos/ | title=SPECULOOS Southern Observatory}} Each telescope is equipped with an Andor Peltier-cooled deeply depleted 2k × 2k CCD camera and the telescopes have a 12 × 12 arcminutes field of view.

The four 1 m-diameter telescopes will be equipped with cameras sensitive in the near-infrared, the wavelength range in which ultra-cool stars and brown dwarfs emit most of their light. The detectors are optimized for 700 to 1000 nm wavelength, to observe ultracool dwarfs with a J-band magnitude of 14 or brighter at good seeing conditions.

SPECULOOS involves scientists from the University of Liège (Belgium), the University of Birmingham (UK), the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (UK), the University of Bern (Swiss), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and the King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia), under the leadership of Michaël Gillon of the University of Liège. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) supports and hosts the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (SSO) at the Paranal Observatory.

As with the other space observation projects of the University of Liège like TRAPPIST, the name Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars makes up a backronym referring to a Belgian food: in this case, the spiced biscuit known as Speculoos.

The first light data of the SPECULOOS telescopes revealed the eclipsing binary brown dwarf 2M1510A, which is only the second eclipsing binary brown dwarf found so far.{{cite journal|last1=Triaud|first1=Amaury H. M. J.|last2=Burgasser|first2=Adam J.|last3=Burdanov|first3=Artem|last4=Kunovac Hodžić|first4=Vedad|last5=Alonso|first5=Roi|last6=Bardalez Gagliuffi|first6=Daniella|last7=Delrez|first7=Laetitia|last8=Demory|first8=Brice-Olivier|last9=de Wit|first9=Julien|last10=Ducrot|first10=Elsa|last11=Hessman|first11=Frederic V.|date=January 2020|title=An Eclipsing Substellar Binary in a Young Triple System discovered by SPECULOOS|journal=Nature Astronomy|volume=4|issue=7|pages=650–657|doi=10.1038/s41550-020-1018-2|arxiv=2001.07175|bibcode=2020NatAs...4..650T|s2cid=210839528}} The data by SPECULOOS did help to characterise low-mass eclipsing binaries and plays an important part in the follow-up of a new class of rapidly rotating low-mass stars.

SPECULOOS was involved in the discovery of the exoplanet K2-135b, the exoplanets around L 98-59 and the planetary system TOI-178.{{cite book|last1=Sebastian|first1=D.|last2=Pedersen|first2=P. P.|last3=Murray|first3=C. A.|last4=Ducrot|first4=E.|last5=Garcia|first5=L. J.|last6=Burdanov|first6=A.|last7=Pozuelos|first7=F. J.|last8=Delrez|first8=L.|last9=Wells|first9=R.|last10=Dransfield|first10=G.|last11=Gillon|first11=M.|editor1-first=Heather K|editor1-last=Marshall|editor2-first=Jason|editor2-last=Spyromilio|editor3-first=Tomonori|editor3-last=Usuda|title=Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII|date=2021-01-01|chapter=Development of the SPECULOOS exoplanet search project|page=276|doi=10.1117/12.2563563|arxiv=2101.10970|isbn=9781510636774|s2cid=230550439}}{{cite journal|last1=Leleu|first1=A.|last2=Alibert|first2=Y.|last3=Hara|first3=N. C.|last4=Hooton|first4=M. J.|last5=Wilson|first5=T. G.|last6=Robutel|first6=P.|last7=Delisle|first7=J.-B.|last8=Laskar|first8=J.|last9=Hoyer|first9=S.|last10=Lovis|first10=C.|last11=Bryant|first11=E. M.|date=2021-01-01|title=Six transiting planets and a chain of Laplace resonances in TOI-178|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|volume=649|pages=A26|doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202039767|arxiv=2101.09260|bibcode=2021A&A...649A..26L|s2cid=231693292}} SAINT-EX, which is part of the SPECULOOS project helped in the discovery of the planets around TOI-1266.

In 2022, the discovery of two super-Earths, one in the habitable zone, around LP 890-9 using SPECULOOS was announced.{{cite web |url=https://www.news.uliege.be/cms/c_16795199/en/speculoos-discovers-a-potentially-habitable-super-earth |title=SPECULOOS discovers a potentially habitable super-Earth |last= |first= |date=7 September 2022 |website= |publisher=University of Liège |access-date=7 September 2022}} This system is also designated SPECULOOS-2, with TRAPPIST-1 being SPECULOOS-1. In 2024, a short-period Earth-sized planet was announced around the ultra-cool dwarf SPECULOOS-3 (LSPM J2049+3336).

• TRAPPIST, another project of the University of Liège to search for exoplanets

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{{cite journal |last1=Delrez |first1=L. |last2=Murray |first2=C. A. |display-authors=etal |date=September 2022 |title=Two temperate super-Earths transiting a nearby late-type M dwarf |journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics |volume=667 |issue= |pages=A59 |doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202244041 |arxiv=2209.02831 |s2cid=252110654 |bibcode=2022A&A...667A..59D}}

{{cite journal |last1=Gillon |first1=Michaël |last2=Pedersen |first2=Peter P. |display-authors=etal |date=May 2024 |title=Detection of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting the nearby ultracool dwarf star SPECULOOS-3 |url=https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3678312/v1 |journal=Nature Astronomy |volume= 8|issue= 7|pages= 865–878|doi=10.1038/s41550-024-02271-2 |arxiv=2406.00794 |bibcode=2024NatAs...8..865G}}

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• [https://www.speculoos.uliege.be/ official website] available in French and English
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqwSnCxFoDo SPECULOOS - The Hunt For Exoplanets Is Getting A New Set Of Eyes]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEUpbGgu-D4 Introducing Artemis — MIT-EAPS' newest addition to the hunt for exoplanets]

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