The Lowell Observatory Solar Telescope: A fiber feed into the EXtreme PREcision Spectrometer

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Llama, Joe, Zhao, Lily L., Brewer, John M., Szymkowiak, Andrew, Fischer, Debra A., Collins, Michael, Tiegs, Jake, Cornelius, Frank
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866929574971965440
author Llama, Joe
Zhao, Lily L.
Brewer, John M.
Szymkowiak, Andrew
Fischer, Debra A.
Collins, Michael
Tiegs, Jake
Cornelius, Frank
author_facet Llama, Joe
Zhao, Lily L.
Brewer, John M.
Szymkowiak, Andrew
Fischer, Debra A.
Collins, Michael
Tiegs, Jake
Cornelius, Frank
contents The signal induced by a temperate, terrestrial planet orbiting a Sun-like star is an order of magnitude smaller than the host stars' intrinsic variability. Understanding stellar activity is, therefore, a fundamental obstacle in confirming the smallest exoplanets. We present the Lowell Observatory Solar Telescope (LOST), a solar feed for the EXtreme PREcision Spectrometer (EXPRES) at the 4.3-m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT). EXPRES is one of the newest high-resolution spectrographs that accurately measure extreme radial velocity. With LOST/EXPRES, we observe disk-integrated sunlight autonomously throughout the day. In clear conditions, we achieve a ~137,500 optical spectrum of the Sun with a signal-to-noise of 500 in ~150s. Data is reduced using the standard EXPRES pipeline with minimal modification to ensure the data are comparable to the observations of other stars with the LDT. During the first three years of operation, we find a daily RMS of 71 cm/s. Additionally, having two EPRV spectrometers located in Arizona gives us an unprecedented opportunity to benchmark the performance of these planet-finders. We find a RMS of just 55 cm/s when comparing data taken simultaneously with EXPRES and NEID.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_07967
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Lowell Observatory Solar Telescope: A fiber feed into the EXtreme PREcision Spectrometer
Llama, Joe
Zhao, Lily L.
Brewer, John M.
Szymkowiak, Andrew
Fischer, Debra A.
Collins, Michael
Tiegs, Jake
Cornelius, Frank
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
The signal induced by a temperate, terrestrial planet orbiting a Sun-like star is an order of magnitude smaller than the host stars' intrinsic variability. Understanding stellar activity is, therefore, a fundamental obstacle in confirming the smallest exoplanets. We present the Lowell Observatory Solar Telescope (LOST), a solar feed for the EXtreme PREcision Spectrometer (EXPRES) at the 4.3-m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT). EXPRES is one of the newest high-resolution spectrographs that accurately measure extreme radial velocity. With LOST/EXPRES, we observe disk-integrated sunlight autonomously throughout the day. In clear conditions, we achieve a ~137,500 optical spectrum of the Sun with a signal-to-noise of 500 in ~150s. Data is reduced using the standard EXPRES pipeline with minimal modification to ensure the data are comparable to the observations of other stars with the LDT. During the first three years of operation, we find a daily RMS of 71 cm/s. Additionally, having two EPRV spectrometers located in Arizona gives us an unprecedented opportunity to benchmark the performance of these planet-finders. We find a RMS of just 55 cm/s when comparing data taken simultaneously with EXPRES and NEID.
title The Lowell Observatory Solar Telescope: A fiber feed into the EXtreme PREcision Spectrometer
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.07967