MAROON-X: A radial velocity spectrograph to identify habitable worlds
Status: (04/30/2020)
The instrument is now fully operational at Gemini-N and we have started doing science. The instrument was offered to the public in the 2020B call for proposals and will be available for the foreseeable future. The next step in the project is to begin the process to hand the instrument over to Gemini's ownership.
See our SPIE 2016 and SPIE 2018 papers for more detailed discussion of the design and construction of MAROON-X.
Original Project description:
We aim to build a new instrument with the capability to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of mid- to late-M dwarfs using the radial velocity method. The instrument will be a high-resolution, bench-mounted spectrograph capable of delivering 1 m/s radial velocity precision for M dwarfs down to and beyond V = 16. It will be installed on the Gemini North telescope located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The capability that this instrument will have is well beyond the reach of any existing instrument. The anticipated uses for the instrument are to (1) conduct a radial velocity only survey for potentially habitable planets around nearby mid- to late-M dwarfs and (2) to confirm and measure the masses of low-mass planet candidates identified in the habitable zones of M dwarfs by ground- and space-based transit surveys. These later objects will be the best objects for future atmospheric studies of potentially habitable planets.
The main constraint for the instrument is set by the desired wavelength coverage. The important wavelength range for the instrument is 700 -- 900 nm because this is the region containing the maximum radial velocity information for mid to late M dwarfs. There is no gas cell useful for this region, so the instrument must be intrinsically stable to deliver the desired radial velocity precision. This means that the optical setup must be fixed and that the entire instrument must be in a vacuum tank and in a temperature stabilized enclosure. The instrument must also be fiber-fed to maintain illumination stability. A resolving power of approximately 80,000 is necessary. A similar setup can not be realized by making straightforward modifications to existing instruments - a new instrument must be built to achieve the radial velocity precision goal for the target stars.
