Pressemeddelelse
Nyt nationalt teleskop på La Silla
TRAPPIST skal spejde mod himlen og afsløre exoplaneter og kometer
8. juni 2010
Et nyt robotteleskop er blevet taget i brug på ESO’s La Silla-observatorium i Chile. TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) er øremærket til at undersøge planetsystemer på to forskellige måder: registrering og karakterisering af planeter uden for Solsystemet (exoplaneter) og studier af kometer, der kredser om Solen. Teleskopet, der er 60 cm, styres fra et kontrolcenter, som ligger 12.000 km væk i Liège i Belgien.
”De to temaer i TRAPPIST-projektet er vigtige dele af et voksende tværfagligt forskningsområde – astrobiologi – der sigter mod at studere oprindelsen og fordelingen af liv i Universet,” forklarer Michaël Gillon, der er ansvarlig for studierne af exoplaneter.
”Klippeplaneter, der ligner Jorden, er oplagte mål til at søge efter liv uden for Solsystemet, mens kometer mistænkes for at have spillet en vigtig rolle i livets opståen og udvikling på vores planet,” tilføjer hans kollega Emmanuël Jehin, der leder kometdelen af projektet.
TRAPPIST vil finde og karakterisere exoplaneter ved at lave meget præcise målinger af ”lysstyrkefald”, der kan være forårsaget af exoplanet-passager. Under en sådan passage falder lysstyrken af den observerede stjerne en smule, fordi planeten blokerer for en del af stjernelyset. Jo større planeten er, desto mere af lyset er blokeret og desto mere vil stjernens lysstyrke falde [1].
”ESO’s La Silla-observatorium i udkanten af Atacama-ørkenen er helt sikkert en af de bedste astronomiske lokaliteter i verden,” siger Gillon. ”Og fordi det allerede er hjemsted for to fremragende exoplanet-jægere, kunne vi ikke have fundet et bedre sted til at installere vores robotteleskop.”
Astronomerne bag TRAPPIST-initiativet vil arbejde meget tæt sammen med holdet, der bruger HARPS på 3,6 meter teleskopet og CORALIE, som sidder på det schweiziske 1,2 meter Leonhard Euler teleskop, der begge er placeret på La Silla. TRAPPIST er et samarbejde mellem universitetet i Liège og observatoriet i Genève, Schweiz. Teleskopet er installeret i den bygning, der husede det gamle schweiziske T70 teleskop. Takket være dette samarbejde kører hele projektet i overhalingsbanen: Der er kun gået to år fra beslutningen blev taget om at bygge teleskopet til det rettede sit øje mod himlen for første gang.
TRAPPIST vil også blive anvendt til studier af sydlige kometer. Til dette formål er teleskopet udstyret med særlige store højkvalitets-kometfiltre, der tillader astronomerne regelmæssigt og detaljeret at studere udslyngningen af flere typer molekyler fra kometer under deres rejse rundt om Solen.
”Med snesevis af kometer observeret hvert år, vil dette give os et enestående datasæt, som vil give vigtige oplysninger om deres natur,” siger Jehin.
TRAPPIST er et letvægts 0,6 meter robotteleskop, der er fuldt automatiseret og bevæger sit synsfelt præcist hen over himlen med høj hastighed. Observationsprogrammet er udarbejdet i forvejen og teleskopet kan udføre en hel nats observationer uden opsyn. En meteorologisk station overvåger hele tiden vejret og beslutter at lukke kuplen, hvis det er nødvendigt.
Noter
[1] En planetpassage opstår, når en planet passerer foran sin stjerne og blokerer for noget af stjernens lys. Denne type af formørkelse forårsager ændringer i stjernens tilsyneladende lysstyrke og gør det muligt at måle planetens diameter. Kombineret med radialhastighedsmålinger er det også muligt at beregne massen og dermed planetens massefylde.
Mere information
TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) er et projekt, som er ledet af afdelingen for astrofysik, geofysisk og oceanografi (AGO) ved universitetet i Liège (Belgien), i tæt samarbejde med observatoriet i Genève (Schweiz). TRAPPIST er primært finansieret af Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) med deltagelse af Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF).
Holdet består af Emmanuël Jehin, Michaël Gillon, Pierre Magain, Virginie Chantry, Jean Manfroid og Damien Hutsemékers (University of Liège, Belgien) samt Didier Queloz og Stéphane Udry (Observatory of Geneva, Schweiz).
Teleskopet har fået navnet TRAPPIST for at understrege projektets belgiske oprindelse. Trappist-øl er berømte over hele verden og de fleste af dem er belgiske. Derudover sætter holdmedlemmerne stor pris på dem!
Links
Kontakter
Emmanuël Jehin
University of Liège
Liège, Belgium
Tel: +32 4 366 97 26
E-mail: ejehin@ulg.ac.be
Didier Queloz
Geneva Observatory, University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 379 2477
E-mail: didier.queloz@unige.ch
Henri Boffin
ESO, La Silla Paranal and E-ELT Press Officer
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6222
Mobil: +49 174 515 43 24
E-mail: hboffin@eso.org
Michaël Gillon
University of Liège
Liège, Belgium
Tel: +32 4 366 97 43
E-mail: michael.gillon@ulg.ac.be
Pierre Magain
University of Liège
Liège, Belgium
Tel: +32 4 366 97 43
E-mail: pierre.magain@ulg.ac.be
Ole J. Knudsen (Pressekontakt Danmark)
ESOs formidlingsnetværk
og Aarhus Space Centre, Aarhus Universitet
Aarhus, Danmark
Tel: +45 8715 5597
E-mail: eson-denmark@eso.org
Om pressemeddelelsen
Pressemeddelelse nr.: | eso1023da |
Navn: | 30 Doradus, NGC 2070, Tarantula Nebula |
Type: | Local Universe : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region |
Facility: | TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope–South |
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