Category Archives: HPF Hardware

What to do when your star wanders

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Samuel Peter Halverson

As we’ve mentioned in prior blog posts, high precision Doppler radial velocity (RV) measurements require extraordinarily stable instruments to measure the spectral shifts in the stellar absorption features induced by orbiting planets. How small are these shifts? A 10 cm/s velocity signal, … Continue reading →

Posted in HPF Hardware | Comments Off on What to do when your star wanders

We Have a Cryostat

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Paul M Robertson

If you have been following the blog up to now, you have seen our discussion of the technical requirements and specifications for our cryostat — the giant, temperature-controlled vacuum chamber that will house the HPF instrument.  The cryostat has been in … Continue reading →

Posted in HPF Hardware, Project Development | Comments Off on We Have a Cryostat

The 2 square-inch detector at the heart of HPF

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Ryan Carl Terrien

A little history Among the variety of components that make up HPF, the mammoth 10m Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the hefty 200lb diffraction grating are certainly the most imposing. Although these are among the best and most advanced tools in modern … Continue reading →

Posted in HPF Hardware | Comments Off on The 2 square-inch detector at the heart of HPF