NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
The radial velocity search for extrasolar planetsStars are observed with a ground-based instrument designed to measure small changes in the line-of-sight velocities. The purpose of the observations is to detect large planets by the oscillatory reflex motion they induce on the stars they are orbiting. The instrument is an optical spectrometer for which wavelengths are first calibrated by transmission through a tunable Fabry-Perot etalon interferometer. Changes in the line-of-sight velocities are revealed by changes in the Doppler shift of the absorption-line spectra of stars. The scrambling of incident light by an optical fiber and the stability of wavelength calibration by a tilt-tunable Fabry-Perot etalon provide immunity to systematic errors that historically have effected more conventional radial velocity spectrographs. A cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph spatially separates the orders of constructive interference transmitted through the etalon. Selecting several echelle diffraction orders in the vicinity of 4250 to 4750 A, which are imaged on a CCD, about 350 points on the profile of the stellar spectrum are sampled by successive orders of interferometric transmission through the etalon.
Document ID
19870003052
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Mcmillen, R. S.
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Smith, P. H.
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
September 1, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: NASA, Washington Reports of Planetary Astronomy, 1985
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
87N12485
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Document Inquiry

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available