Mitteilung

ESPRESSO — Planetenjäger auf dem Weg nach Chile

22. August 2017

ESPRESSO – der Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations – hat die PAE (Preliminary Acceptance Europe) der ESO bestanden. Dies bedeutet, dass die ersten vorläufigen Tests erfolgreich absolviert wurden und das Instrument nun verpackt und nach Chile versendet wird. Dort wird es am kombinierten Coudé-Fokus des Very Large Telescope (VLT) installiert. ESPRESSO soll noch im Jahr 2017 in Betrieb genommen werden.

ESPRESSO, ein Echelle-Spektrograph, ist eines der am sehnlichsten erwarteten Instrumente unter Astronomen [1]. Es ist der Nachfolger von HARPS, dem Planetenjäger der ESO am 3,6-Meter-Teleskop auf La Silla, und wird die Präzision von HARPS um das etwa zehnfache übertreffen [2]. Als Planetenjäger der nächsten Generation wird ESPRESSO winzige Veränderungen des Sternlichts detektieren, wenn Planeten – in vielen Fällen kleiner als Neptun – diese Sterne umkreisen. Diese Methode der Radialgeschwindigkeit zeichnet kleinste Veränderungen der Sternbewegung durch den gravitativen Einfluss des Planeten auf – der Stern "taumelt" durch den Einfluss des Planeten. Je kleiner der Planet, desto kleiner fällt diese Taumelbewegung aus. Um also kleine Gesteinsplaneten zu entdecken, die potentiell Leben beherbergen könnten, ist ein hochpräzises Messgerät notwendig. Mithilfe dieser Methode wird ESPRESSO einige der kleinsten Planeten, die wir zu entdecken hoffen, aufspüren [3].

Wie auch HARPS wird ESPRESSO außerdem für die Aufnahme veränderlicher Spektren von Exoplaneten, wenn diese vor ihrem Heimatstern vorbei ziehen, verwendet werden. Diese Beobachtungstechnik erlaubt es Astronomen, die Hauptbestandteile der Atmosphäre des Planeten, beispielsweise Natrium oder Wasserdampf, zu bestimmen.

Zusätzlich wird ESPRESSO das Licht aller vier VLT-Teleskope kombinieren können, wodurch eine Lichtsammelfläche resultiert, die der eines einzelnen Teleskops mit einem Durchmesser von 16 Metern entspricht. Dies ermöglicht es, auch sehr lichtschwache Objekte zu beobachten. Auch die entferntesten Ecken des Universums sowie das intergalaktische Medium zwischen uns und sehr weit entfernten Quasaren kann so mit hoher Präzision erforscht werden. Dies erlaubt es uns zu untersuchen, ob die Fundamentalkonstanten der Physik zeitlich oder räumlich veränderlich sind.

Fußnoten

[1] ESPRESSO wurde in Zusammenarbeit von den folgenden Institutionen konstruiert und realisiert: Astronomical Observatory der University of Geneva und University of Bern, Schweiz; INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste und INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Italien; Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spanien; Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciências do Espaço, Universities of Porto und Lisboa, Portugal; und der ESO.

[2] HARPS kann die Bewegung eines Sterns mit einer Präzision besser als ein Meter pro Sekunde bestimmen während ESPRESSO einige Zentimeter pro Sekunde erreichen soll. Hierfür sind technologische Fortschritte sowie die Installation an einem deutlich größeren Teleskop verantwortlich.

[3] Die Methode der Radialgeschwindigkeit ist sehr wichtig, wenn wir die physikalischen Eigenschaften von Exoplaneten, beispielsweise seine Masse, untersuchen möchten. Zusammen mit den Ergebnissen anderer Methoden wie der Transitmethode sind sogar noch mehr Informationen zugänglich: beispielsweise die Größe und Dichte des Exoplaneten. Das Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) der ESO am Paranal sucht mit der Transitmethode nach Exoplaneten.

Links

Kontaktinformationen

Francesco Pepe
Observatoire de l’Université de Genève
Versoix, Schweiz
Tel: 0041 (0)22 379 23 96
E-Mail: Francesco.Pepe@unige.ch

Antonio Manescau
ESO
Garching bei München
Tel: +49 89 3200 6142
E-Mail: amanesca@eso.org

Gaspare Lo Curto
ESO
Santiago de Chile, Chile
Tel: +56 22 463 3092
E-Mail: glocurto@eso.org

Richard Hook
ESO Public Information Officer
Garching bei München
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Mobil: +49 151 1537 3591
E-Mail: rhook@eso.org

Über die Mitteilung

ID:ann17053

Bilder

ESPRESSO takes shape
ESPRESSO takes shape
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