Title :
Search for earth-analogs with the Planet Hunter Mission
Author :
Goullioud, Renaud ; Marr, James C. ; Shao, Michael ; Marcy, Geoffrey W.
Author_Institution :
Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA
Abstract :
Planet Hunter is a design for a space borne astrometric mission. Planet Hunter utilizes technology developed for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). The instrument consists of two Michelson stellar interferometers and a telescope. The first interferometer chops between the target star and a set of reference stars. The second interferometer monitors the attitude of the instrument in the direction of the target star. The telescope monitors the attitude of the instrument in the other two directions. Planet Hunter will be capable of one micro-arc-second narrow angle astrometry per visit, over a two-degree field of regard for magnitude 10 and brighter target stars. During the 5-year mission, Planet Hunter would search more than 100 nearby Sun-like stars for exo-planets of mass down to one Earth mass, in the Habitable Zone.
Keywords :
Michelson interferometers; astrometry; astronomical techniques; astronomical telescopes; extrasolar planets; Habitable Zone; Michelson stellar interferometers; Planet Hunter mission; Space Interferometry Mission; astronomical telescope; earth analogs; space borne astrometric mission; time 5 year; Earth; Extrasolar planet; Extraterrestrial measurements; Instruments; Interferometers; Optical interferometry; Space missions; Space technology; System testing; Telescopes;
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace conference, 2009 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Big Sky, MT
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2621-8
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2622-5
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2009.4839466
