First Light for ESPRESSO — the Next Generation Planet Hunter

[ScienceRocks]

First Light for ESPRESSO — the Next Generation Planet Hunter
6 December 2017

The Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) has successfully made its first observations. Installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, ESPRESSO will search for exoplanets with unprecedented precision by looking at the minuscule changes in the light of their host stars. For the first time ever, an instrument will be able to sum up the light from all four VLT telescopes and achieve the light collecting power of a 16-metre telescope.
ESPRESSO has achieved first light on ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile [1]. This new, third-generation echelle spectrograph is the successor to ESO’s hugely successful HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory. HARPS can attain a precision of around one metre per second in velocity measurements, whereas ESPRESSO aims to achieve a precision of just a few centimetres per second, due to advances in technology and its placement on a much bigger telescope.

The lead scientist for ESPRESSO, Francesco Pepe from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, explains its significance: “This success is the result of the work of many people over 10 years. ESPRESSO isn’t just the evolution of our previous instruments like HARPS, but it will be transformational, with its higher resolution and higher precision. And unlike earlier instruments it can exploit the VLT’s full collecting power — it can be used with all four of the VLT Unit Telescopes at the same time to simulate a 16-metre telescope. ESPRESSO will be unsurpassed for at least a decade — now I am just impatient to find our first rocky planet!”

First Light for ESPRESSO — the Next Generation Planet Hunter

Freaking awesome! This will be nearly 10 times more sensitive to motion of the star then Harp!!! This will measure mass!!! Would love for them to get accurate mass measurements for Kepler 442b, Kepler 186f, Giese 667cc, wolf 1661c and so much more

 

[ScienceRocks]

This is probably some of the most important extrasolar planetary news in about 5 years.

We will be able to find masses for alot of the transiting planets from Kepler with this "tool" and be able to find density using what we find.

 

[ThunderKiss1965]

The billions wasted finding exosolar planets would be better spent developing the resources in our own solar system.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Thank god this has nothing to do with this dying country and is in europe!

Europe is really starting to lead the world.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

Thank god this has nothing to do with this dying country and is in europe!

Europe is really starting to lead the world

Well, they did take in all those Muslim rocket scientists.

 

[ThunderKiss1965]

Thank god this has nothing to do with this dying country and is in europe!

Europe is really starting to lead the world.

Dying country? The EU's combined GDP doesn't match the US, The immigration crisis. Brexit. I could go on. Europe lost its relevancy after WWII.
As far as our space program goes Obama fucked that by canceling the Shuttle without a backup. Thankfully we are starting to see private industry step up and getting involved so the price of getting shit into space will start to fall.

As I said before we need to stop spending money on stupid shit like finding exoplanets and concentrate on our on system. We either need a space elevator or self-sustaining manufacturing bases on the moon and asteroid belt once that's all in place we can worry about the rest of the universe.