Solar radial velocity variations and the search for Venus enabled by a laser frequency comb

We have recently demonstrated 50 cm/s sensitivity in measuring the radial velocity (RV) between the Earth and Sun using a simple, compact 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 have been operating the solar telescope to detect the RV signal of the Sun as a star for the past year both to study RV jitter associated with stellar (solar) fluctuations and to demonstrate sensitivity of these instruments to detect terrestrial exoplanets. In this talk I will present results from calibrating the HARPS-N exoplanet searcher spectrograph, solar RV stability, and the current status of our search for the signature of Venus.