An upgrade to the mount of the ASTEP telescope
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This research is about constructing a new mount for the ASTEP telescope, which located at one of the highest point, within Antarctica. This unique location provides long nights during the Austral winter. The current mount is failing and needs to be changed. Since access to Antarctica is difficult, a new mount needs to be designed and constructed now. Leveraging knowhow accumulated from 10 years of operations in Antarctica, this is the occasion to built a better mount. This will provide research outputs in three areas:
The first output will be a greater sensitivity to small planets, but also an improved precision on currently detectable exoplanets. The detection of planet is made via the transit method, when a planet passes between us and its host star, making it dimmer for a short moment that happens at every orbital period. Thanks to its long nights, ASTEP has specialised in the detection of rare planets: long orbital periods, transits that last longer than a night at a traditional site, systems with very infrequent transits etc... The good astronomical quality of the site, the lack of clouds and humidity (Antarctica is the driest place on Earth), and the long nights all contribute to make ASTEP a unique setup with unique scientific results. In more ways than one, ASTEP is like a small space telescope able to conduct uninterrupted observations for a few months.
The second output is to demonstrate the quality of the site at Dome C. Already known to be a very good astronomical location, the current instrumentation has not made full use of the unique observing conditions. A new mount, combined with a state of art camera about to be rolled out to the current telescope will improve our precision and accuracy by a factor 2 allow the detection of smaller planets and rivalling conditions at most other sites. This will ensure the base continues to manned and to extend operations to more challenging observations. For instance Antarctica is perfect location use near infra-red camera and attempt the detection of water within the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets. It is possible to do this there thanks to the extremely dry environment.
The third output will be a series of technological developments to adapt direct drive technology to Antarctic conditions and demonstrate they can work reliably to produce accurate astronomical observations. As part of this goal, there will be a transfer of expertise from the Universite de la Cote d'Azur (Nice, France) to the University of Birmingham about how to control and tune direct drives. While this setup has shown to perform extremely well, tuning of a direct drive motor has proven difficult and is intellectual property retained by telescope manufacturers. With this knowledge in hand, Birmingham will be able to tune its own telescopes without requiring the expensive help of a telescope manufacturer.
The first output will be a greater sensitivity to small planets, but also an improved precision on currently detectable exoplanets. The detection of planet is made via the transit method, when a planet passes between us and its host star, making it dimmer for a short moment that happens at every orbital period. Thanks to its long nights, ASTEP has specialised in the detection of rare planets: long orbital periods, transits that last longer than a night at a traditional site, systems with very infrequent transits etc... The good astronomical quality of the site, the lack of clouds and humidity (Antarctica is the driest place on Earth), and the long nights all contribute to make ASTEP a unique setup with unique scientific results. In more ways than one, ASTEP is like a small space telescope able to conduct uninterrupted observations for a few months.
The second output is to demonstrate the quality of the site at Dome C. Already known to be a very good astronomical location, the current instrumentation has not made full use of the unique observing conditions. A new mount, combined with a state of art camera about to be rolled out to the current telescope will improve our precision and accuracy by a factor 2 allow the detection of smaller planets and rivalling conditions at most other sites. This will ensure the base continues to manned and to extend operations to more challenging observations. For instance Antarctica is perfect location use near infra-red camera and attempt the detection of water within the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets. It is possible to do this there thanks to the extremely dry environment.
The third output will be a series of technological developments to adapt direct drive technology to Antarctic conditions and demonstrate they can work reliably to produce accurate astronomical observations. As part of this goal, there will be a transfer of expertise from the Universite de la Cote d'Azur (Nice, France) to the University of Birmingham about how to control and tune direct drives. While this setup has shown to perform extremely well, tuning of a direct drive motor has proven difficult and is intellectual property retained by telescope manufacturers. With this knowledge in hand, Birmingham will be able to tune its own telescopes without requiring the expensive help of a telescope manufacturer.
Publications
Georgina Dransfield
(2023)
A 1.55 R? habitable-zone planet hosted by TOI-715, an M4 star near the ecliptic South Pole
Orosz Jerome
(2024)
A Comprehensive Photodynamical Solution for the Multi-Planet Circumbinary System TOI-1338
in AAS/Division for Extreme Solar Systems Abstracts
Jones M
(2024)
A long-period transiting substellar companion in the super-Jupiters to brown dwarfs mass regime and a prototypical warm-Jupiter detected by TESS
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Borsato L
(2024)
Characterisation of the warm-Jupiter TOI-1130 system with CHEOPS and a photo-dynamical approach
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Melis Carl
(2024)
Dynamical Chaos and Disappearing Dust in the TYC 8830 410 1 Planetary System
in IAU General Assembly
Almenara J
(2024)
Evidence for transit-timing variations of the 11 Myr exoplanet TOI-1227 b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
J. M. Almenara
(2024)
Evidence for transit-timing variations of the 11 Myr exoplanet TOI-1227 b
J. M. Almenara
(2024)
Evidence for transit-timing variations of the 11 Myr exoplanet TOI-1227 b
Kokori A
(2023)
ExoClock Project. III. 450 New Exoplanet Ephemerides from Ground and Space Observations
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Hasler S
(2023)
Small body harvest with the Antarctic Search for Transiting Exoplanets (ASTEP) project
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Thao P
(2024)
TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME). X. A Two-planet System in the 210 Myr MELANGE-5 Association
in The Astronomical Journal
Brahm R
(2023)
Three long period transiting giant planets from TESS
Brahm R
(2023)
Three Long-period Transiting Giant Planets from TESS*
Brahm R
(2023)
Three Long-period Transiting Giant Planets from TESS*
in The Astronomical Journal
Psaridi A
(2023)
Three Saturn-mass planets transiting F-type stars revealed with TESS and HARPS TOI-615b, TOI-622b, and TOI-2641b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Eberhardt J
(2023)
Three Warm Jupiters around Solar-analog Stars Detected with TESS*
in The Astronomical Journal
Trifonov T
(2023)
TOI-2525 b and c: A Pair of Massive Warm Giant Planets with Strong Transit Timing Variations Revealed by TESS*
in The Astronomical Journal
Timmermans M
(2024)
TOI-4336 A b: A temperate sub-Neptune ripe for atmospheric characterization in a nearby triple M-dwarf system
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dong Jiayin
(2022)
Two Case Studies of Warm Jupiters Suggesting Different Origins
in AAS/Division of Dynamical Astronomy Meeting
Wittrock J
(2023)
Validating AU Microscopii d with Transit Timing Variations
in The Astronomical Journal
Eberhardt J.
(2024)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: FEROS spectra for 3 giants exoplanets (Eberhardt+, 2023)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Thao Pa C.
(2024)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: THYME. X. MELANGE-5 association cand. members (Thao+, 2024)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Borsato L.
(2024)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: TOI-1130 CHEOPS observations (Borsato+, 2024)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
| Description | The new telescope mount was constructed and tested, then sent to Antarctica and installed on the telescope and tested on site between November 2023 and February 2024. This new mount has been performing very well through the 2024 Austral winter observing season. A second mount is being created for a new telescope to be installed on site, based on this success. |
| Exploitation Route | At the moment the main take away is that a direct drive mount can work down to -80 degrees and almost autonomously. This can form the basis for new telescope standards in Antarctica. |
| Sectors | Construction Electronics Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Other |
| Description | Encouraging the French government to keep the Concordia station over the long term |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Temperate exoplanets from Chile & Antarctica |
| Amount | £497,464 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/Y001710/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2024 |
| End | 03/2027 |
| Description | ASTEP |
| Organisation | Nice Observatory |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We brought a state of art camera to the ASTEP collaboration, which has a telescope located in Antarctica. This will grant access to data from the telescope, starting in the Austral Winter of 2021. We will provide targets, and science cases for observations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They constructed a telescope that can resist the harsh condition of the Antarctic, they operate the telescope during the Austral winter, and they are constructing a box to protect the camera from the harsh weather conditions. They will assist with data analysis, and data storage. |
| Impact | Too soon. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Talks to General Public |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Give talks about science, exoplanets, how to find planets, the search for life elsewhere to a variety of communities and location. From pubs, to planetarium, associations, schools, or organised on campus. Dozens of talks given. During COVID times, similar activities took place through online live talks, and recorded talks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021 |