Degustando un ESPRESSO

En esta imagen podemos ver la enorme rejilla de difracción en el corazón del espectrógrafo ultra preciso ESPRESSO (la próxima generación en tecnología de detección de exoplanetas) mientras se pone a prueba en la sala blanca de la sede central de ESO, en Garching (Múnich, Alemania).

Recientemente, un equipo de ingenieros ha completado en ESO el difícil proceso de alineación de la rejilla. La producción y la alineación de este componente es una de las aportaciones claves de ESO para el proyecto ESPRESSO. Se trata de la rejilla más grande jamás montado en ESO, y su longitud coincide con la rejilla echelle más grande jamás construida: 1,2 x 0,3 metros de rejilla para el espectrógrafo HIRES, instalado en el telescopio de 10 metros Keck.

Después de su última alineación, la rejilla se fija en un soporte permanente. Todos sus componentes son de Zerodur (el mismo material que se utiliza para los espejos del VLT) y no volverán a necesitar ningún ajuste adicional. ESO fue pionera en esta técnica de montaje, demostrando que funcionaba en instrumentos anteriores.

Una vez instalado en el Observatorio Paranal de ESO (Chile) en el año 2016, ESPRESSO combinará la luz de los cuatro telescopios unitarios del VLT (Very Large Telescope) para crear un telescopio virtual de 16 metros de apertura. Su rejilla de difracción dividirá la luz en los colores que la componen para analizarla, separando la luz como un prisma, aunque se trata de un mecanismo físico diferente.

El sucesor de HARPS — el cazador de exoplanetas más importante del mundo —, ESPRESSO, llevará la búsqueda de exoplanetas al siguiente nivel, permitiendo a los astrónomos buscar planetas como la Tierra alrededor de estrellas cercanas en la zona de habitabilidad [1]. Tendrá muchas otras aplicaciones científicas, incluyendo la búsqueda de posibles variaciones en las constantes de la naturaleza en diferentes momentos en la vida del universo y en diferentes direcciones, a través del estudio de la luz procedente de quásares muy lejanos.

Notas

[1] Un planeta en órbita alrededor de una estrella introduce una pequeña variación regular en el componente de la velocidad medida a lo largo de la línea de visión (conocida como velocidad radial) de un observador distante en la Tierra. Esta variación puede observarse como un "bamboleo" en el espectro de la estrella, ya que las líneas se mueven hacia adelante y hacia atrás con respecto a su posición central como resultado del efecto Doppler. Mientras el planeta se aleja del observador, el cambio de velocidad radial induce un cambio del espectro de la estrella hacia longitudes de onda más largas (un corrimiento al rojo); se moverán hacia longitudes de onda más cortas si el planeta se acerca (un corrimiento al azul). Estos pequeños cambios en la posición del espectro de la estrella en el detector son del orden de unos pocos nanómetros, pero pueden ser medidos con ESPRESSO y utilizados para inferir la presencia de planetas.

Información adicional

ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observationss, espectrógrafo Echelle para la observación de exoplanetas rocosos y observaciones espectroscópicas estables) está siendo desarrollado por un consorcio formado por ESO y otras siete instituciones científicas:

Crédito:

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Identificador:potw1537a
Idioma:es
Tipo:Fotográfico
Fecha de publicación:14 de Septiembre de 2015 a las 10:00
Tamaño:5616 x 3744 px

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Nombre:ESPRESSO
Tipo:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Instrument

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