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Radial velocities from automated telescopes
Author(s) -
Pepe F.,
Mayor M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.200410263
Subject(s) - planet , asteroseismology , radial velocity , exoplanet , physics , telescope , astronomy , stars , transit (satellite) , context (archaeology) , planetary system , solar system , remote sensing , geology , engineering , public transport , paleontology , transport engineering
During the past years, precise radial‐velocity measurements have been the fundamental tool for the discovery and characterization of almost all the presently known extra‐solar planets. The increasing precision and efficiency of this technique has also opened new possibilities for the follow‐up of planetary transit candidates, as well as for other fields of astronomy, such as asteroseismology and stellar physics. The example of extra‐solar planets illustrates quite clearly the strong need for large observational surveys: 1) In order to get a complete view of the planet “zoo”, many stars of various types must be measured and followed up. 2) The detection efficiency increases enormously with the quality and the quantity of data points. Time sampling is a critical parameter. 3) The great diversity of known planetary systems requires covering observation time‐scales from one night to several years and even decades. A direct consequence of these factors is that survey programmes require a large amount of telescope time and a continuous follow‐up of the observations. In a context of limited resources and large amounts of data, automated telescopes will be of great help, or even required, to carry out these programmes. Based on our experience with CORALIE and HARPS, we shall try to define a series of “requirements” towards automated telescopes for precise radial‐velocity measurements. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)