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APF—The Lick Observatory Automated Planet Finder

2014; Institute of Physics; Volume: 126; Issue: 938 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/676120

1538-3873

Steven S. Vogt, Matthew Radovan, Robert I. Kibrick, R. Paul Butler, Barry Alcott, S. L. Allen, P. Arriagada, M. Bolte, Jennifer Burt, Jerry Cabak, Kostas Chloros, David Cowley, William Deich, Brian Dupraw, Wayne Earthman, Harland W. Epps, S. M. Faber, Debra A. Fischer, E. L. Gates, David F. Hilyard, B. Holden, Ken Johnston, Sandy Keiser, Dick Kanto, Myra Katsuki, Lee Laiterman, Kyle Lanclos, G. Laughlin, Jeff Lewis, Chris Lockwood, P. Lynam, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Maureen McLean, J. S. Miller, Tony Misch, M. C. Peck, Terry Pfister, Andrew Phillips, Eugenio J. Rivera, Dale Sandford, M.C Saylor, Richard Stover, Matthew A. Thompson, Bernie Walp, James Ward, John Wareham, Mingzhi Wei, Chris Wright,

Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena

The Automated Planet Finder (APF) is a facility purpose-built for the discovery and characterization of extrasolar planets through high-cadence Doppler velocimetry of the reflex barycentric accelerations of their host stars. Located atop Mount Hamilton, the APF facility consists of a 2.4 m telescope and its Levy spectrometer, an optical echelle spectrometer optimized for precision Doppler velocimetry. APF features a fixed-format spectral range from 374–970 nm, and delivers a "throughput" (resolution × slit width product) of 114,000'', with spectral resolutions up to 150,000. Overall system efficiency (fraction of photons incident on the primary mirror that are detected by the science CCD) on blaze at 560 nm in planet-hunting mode is 15%. First-light tests on the radial-velocity (RV) standard stars HD 185144 and HD 9407 demonstrate sub-meter-per-second precision (rms per observation) held over a 3 month period. This paper reviews the basic features of the telescope, dome, and spectrometer, and gives a brief summary of first-light performance.