Solar oscillations and the search for Venus enabled by a laser frequency comb

ORAL

Abstract

We have recently demonstrated sub-m/s sensitivity in measuring the radial velocity (RV) between the Earth and Sun using a simple, home-built solar telescope feeding the HARPS-N spectrograph at the Italian National Telescope calibrated with our green astro-comb. The green astro-comb is a laser frequency comb optimized for calibrating astrophysical spectrographs. We plan, in the coming year, to use the astro-comb calibrated spectrograph and solar telescope to detect the solar RV signal induced by Venus and thus demonstrate sensitivity of these instruments to detect terrestrial exoplanets. Here, we will present the astro-comb, results from the astro-comb calibrating the HARPS-N exoplanet searcher spectrograph, solar RV stability and plans for observing the signature of Venus.

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Authors

  • David F. Phillips

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

  • Alexander G. Glenday

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

  • Chih-Hao Li

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

  • Nicholas Langellier

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

  • Guoqing Chang

    Physics Dept., Hamburg University, DESY and MIT

  • Gabor Furesz

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Franz X. Kaertner

    Physics Dept., Hamburg University, DESY and MIT

  • Dimitar Sasselov

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

  • Andrew Szentgyorgyi

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

  • Ronald L. Walsworth

    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA., Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA