High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher

The High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) is a high-precision echelle planet-finding spectrograph installed in 2002 on the ESO's 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. The first light was achieved in February 2003. HARPS has discovered over 130 exoplanets to date, with the first one in 2004, making it the most successful planet finder behind the Kepler space observatory. It is a second-generation radial-velocity spectrograph, based on experience with the ELODIE and CORALIE instruments.[1]

Montage of the HARPS spectrograph and the 3.6m telescope at La Silla. The upper left shows the dome of the telescope, while the upper right illustrates the telescope itself. The HARPS spectrograph is shown in the lower image during laboratory tests. The vacuum tank is open so that some of the high-precision components inside can be seen

Characteristics

The HARPS can attain a precision of 0.97 m/s (3.5 km/h),[2] with an effective precision of the order of 30 cm s−1,[3] making it one of only two instruments worldwide with such accuracy. This is due to a design in which the target star and a reference spectrum from a thorium lamp are observed simultaneously using two identical optic fibre feeds, and to careful attention to mechanical stability: the instrument sits in a vacuum vessel which is temperature-controlled to within 0.01 kelvins.[4] The precision and sensitivity of the instrument is such that it incidentally produced the best available measurement of the thorium spectrum. Planet-detection is in some cases limited by the seismic pulsations of the star observed rather than by limitations of the instrument.[5]

The principal investigator on the HARPS is Michel Mayor who, along with Didier Queloz and Stéphane Udry, have used the instrument to characterize the Gliese 581 planetary system, home to one of the smallest known exoplanets orbiting a normal star, and two super-Earths whose orbits lie in the star's habitable zone.[6]

It was initially used for a survey of one-thousand stars.

Since October 2012 the HARPS spectrograph has the precision to detect a new category of planets: habitable super-Earths. This sensitivity was expected from simulations of stellar intrinsic signals, and actual observations of planetary systems. Currently, the HARPS can detect habitable super-Earth only around low-mass stars as these are more affected by gravitational tug from planets and have habitable zones close to the host star.[7]

Discoveries

This is an incomplete list of exoplanets discovered by the HARPS. The list is sorted by the date of the discovery's announcement. As of December 2017, the list contains 134 exoplanets.

HD 330075 b10 February 2004
Mu Arae c25 August 2004
HD 2638 b22 March 2005
HD 27894 b22 March 2005
HD 63454 b22 March 2005
HD 93083 b30 March 2005
HD 101930 b30 March 2005
Gliese 581b8 September 2005
HD 4308 b12 October 2005
HD 212301 b25 January 2006
HD 69830 b18 May 2006
HD 69830 c18 May 2006
HD 69830 d18 May 2006
Mu Arae d14/18 August 2006
Gliese 674 b2 April 2007
HD 100777 b6 April 2007
HD 190647 b6 April 2007
HD 221287 b6 April 2007
Gliese 581c23 April 2007
Gliese 581d23 April 2007
HD 171028 b7 August 2007
HD 40307 b27 June 2008
HD 40307 c27 June 2008
HD 40307 d27 June 2008
Gliese 176 b(c)4 September 2008
BD-17°63 b26 October 2008
HD 20868 b26 October 2008
HD 73267 b26 October 2008
HD 131664 b(a)26 October 2008
HD 145377 b26 October 2008
HD 153950 b26 October 2008
HD 47186 b9 December 2008
HD 47186 c9 December 2008
HD 181433 b9 December 2009
HD 181433 c9 December 2009
HD 181433 d9 December 2009
HD 45364 b3 February 2009
HD 45364 c3 February 2009
Gliese 581e21 April 2009
Gliese 667 Cb19 October 2009
BD-08°2823 b16 December 2009
BD-08°2823 c16 December 2009
HD 5388 b(b)16 December 2009
HD 181720 b16 December 2009
HD 190984 b16 December 2009
HD 125612 c29 December 2009
HD 125612 d29 December 2009
HD 215497 b29 December 2009
HD 215497 c29 December 2009
HIP 5158 b29 December 2009
HD 85390 b5 October 2010
HD 90156 b5 October 2010
HD 103197 b5 October 2010
HIP 12961 b6 December 2010
HD 1690 b17 December 2010
HD 25171 b17 December 2010
HD 113538 b17 December 2010
HD 113538 c17 December 2010
HD 217786 b(a)17 December 2010
HD 33473 Ab17 December 2010
HD 89839 b17 December 2010
HD 167677 b17 December 2010
HD 10180 b23 November 2010
HD 10180 c23 November 2010
HD 10180 d23 November 2010
HD 10180 e23 November 2010
HD 10180 f23 November 2010
HD 10180 g23 November 2010
HD 10180 h23 November 2010
HD 63765 b1 July 2011
HD 104067 b1 July 2011
HD 125595 b1 July 2011
HIP 70849 b1 July 2011
HD 137388 b8 July 2011
HD 204941 b8 July 2011
HD 7199 b8 July 2011
HD 7449 b8 July 2011
82 G. Eridani b17 August 2011
82 G. Eridani c17 August 2011
82 G. Eridani d17 August 2011
HD 85512 b17 August 2011
HR 7722 c17 August 2011
HD 1461 c12 September 2011
HD 13808 b12 September 2011
HD 13808 c12 September 2011
HD 20003 b12 September 2011
HD 20003 c12 September 2011
HD 20781 b12 September 2011
HD 20781 c12 September 2011
HD 21693 b12 September 2011
HD 21693 c12 September 2011
HD 31527 b12 September 2011
HD 31527 c12 September 2011
HD 31527 d12 September 2011
HD 38858 b12 September 2011
HD 39194 b12 September 2011
HD 39194 c12 September 2011
HD 39194 d12 September 2011
HD 45184 b12 September 2011
HD 51608 b12 September 2011
HD 51608 c12 September 2011
HD 93385 b12 September 2011
HD 93385 c12 September 2011
HD 96700 b12 September 2011
HD 96700 c12 September 2011
HD 126525 b12 September 2011
HD 134060 b12 September 2011
HD 134060 c12 September 2011
HD 134606 b12 September 2011
HD 134606 c12 September 2011
HD 134606 d12 September 2011
Nu2 Lupi b12 September 2011
Nu2 Lupi c12 September 2011
Nu2 Lupi d12 September 2011
HD 150433 b12 September 2011
HD 154088 b12 September 2011
HD 157172 b12 September 2011
HD 189567 b12 September 2011
HD 204313 c12 September 2011
HD 215152 b12 September 2011
HD 215152 c12 September 2011
HD 215456 b12 September 2011
HD 215456 c12 September 2011
Gliese 667 Cc21 November 2011
HD 10180 i5 April 2012
HD 10180 j5 April 2012
GJ 3470 b22 June 2012
Gliese 676 c29 June 2012
Gliese 676 d29 June 2012
Gliese 676 e29 June 2012
Gliese 163 b6 September 2012
Gliese 163 c6 September 2012
Gliese 667 Cd25 June 2013
Gliese 667 Cg25 June 2013
Notes
  • (a) — M sin i brown dwarf
  • (b) — brown dwarf
  • (c) — shorter period

See also

ESO 3.6-metre telescope is home to the world's foremost exoplanet hunter, HARPS.[10]

Similar instruments:

Space based detectors :

References

  1. Mayor, M.; Pepe, F.; Queloz, D.; Bouchy, F.; Rupprecht, G.; Lo Curto, G.; Avila, G.; Benz, W.; Bertaux, J.-L.; et al. (2003). "Setting New Standards With HARPS" (PDF). ESO Messenger. 114: 20. Bibcode:2003Msngr.114...20M.
  2. "32 planets discovered outside solar system - CNN.com". CNN. 19 October 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  3. "ESPRESSO – Searching for other Worlds". Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto. 16 December 2009. Archived from the original on 17 October 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  4. "The exoplanet hunter HARPS: unequalled accuracy and perspectives toward 1 cm.s-1 precision" (PDF). ESO. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  5. Carrier; Eggenberger, P; Leyder, J-C (2008). "Asteroseismology of solar-type stars: particular physical effects" (PDF). Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 118 (1): 012047. Bibcode:2008JPhCS.118a2047C. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/118/1/012047.
  6. Mayor; et al. (2009). "The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets,XVIII. An Earth-mass planet in the GJ 581 planetary system". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 507 (1): 487–494. arXiv:0906.2780. Bibcode:2009A&A...507..487M. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200912172.
  7. Pale Red Dot collaboration (August 2016). "A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri". Nature. 536 (7617): 437–440. arXiv:1609.03449. Bibcode:2016Natur.536..437A. doi:10.1038/nature19106. PMID 27558064. S2CID 4451513.
  8. "HARPS Sees Sunshine for the First Time". www.eso.org. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  9. information@eso.org. "A decade of discoveries from HARPS". www.eso.org.
  10. "A Sparkling Ribbon of Stars — The Southern Milky Way over La Silla". ESO Picture of the Week. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
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