Category Archives: Exoplanet Science

The Plot Thickens: Habitable-Zone Exoplanets around Proxima Centauri and TRAPPIST-1

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Paul M Robertson

Introduction As the time approaches to commission HPF on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, we are learning that the spectrograph will be coming online in truly exciting times for exoplanet science!  The detection of habitable-zone exoplanets around two nearby M dwarf stars—including … Continue reading →

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More on stellar activity: an investigation of Gliese 667C

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Paul M Robertson

A few posts back, we explored how even with a highly precise planet-hunting instrument such as HPF, radial velocity noise from magnetic activity on our target stars may hinder our ability to detect exoplanet signals.  In that post, we used … Continue reading →

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Gliese 581 and the Stellar Activity Problem

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Paul M Robertson

The primary science objective of HPF is to discover and confirm low-mass exoplanets in or near the habitable zones of nearby M dwarf stars.  The technical challenge of such an endeavor is significant; we must be able to measure sub … Continue reading →

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