ONLINE – General Meeting – October 2021

6:30 pm – Main Presentation

Title:  Searching for Earth-Twin Exoplanets with the NEID Spectrometer

Over the past three decades astronomers have discovered a menagerie of exoplanets around nearby stars, and it is now clear that planets form with a breadth of characteristics barely hinted at by the planets in our solar system. The goal of finding and characterizing rocky, Earth-like planets remains paramount, but until recently has been hampered by astronomical instruments lacking the sensitivity required to detect signals from these small bodies. A new class of spectroscopic instruments, including the NASA and NSF (National Science Foundation) funded NEID spectrometer at the 3.5 meter WIYN telescope on Kitt Peak, is now coming online, and for the first time will start probing nearby stars for Earth twins.

NEID is dedicated to high precision radial velocity (RV) observations of exoplanets. The RV (or Doppler) effect depends on a planet causing a tiny gravitational pull on the star it orbits, causing the star to “wobble” which can be noted as changes in its spectrum.  In his talk, Dr. Chad Bender will describe the technology enabling these new searches, and what is to come over the next few years as astronomers push the limits of sensitivity lower and lower towards the goal of finding planets like our own.

Presenter:  Dr. Chad Bender is an instrument builder and observational astronomer, studying how planets and planetary systems form and evolve. He has spent the past decade designing and building two extreme precision radial velocity (RV) spectrometers that are now in operation. Earlier this summer, his team completed construction of NEID, which is now the most precise RV spectrometer in the United States, and which has begun a survey of nearby Sun-like stars to search for Earth-like planets. Dr. Bender received his Ph.D. in 2006, and is currently an Associate Astronomer at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory.

7:30 pm (approximately) – Seasonal Night Sky Presentation

Dr. Mary Turner will present her popular Fall Night Sky Presentation.