The Lick–Carnegie Exoplanet Survey (LCES) is a search for

exoplanets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

using the Keck I

optical telescope An optical telescope is a telescope that gathers and focuses light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, to create a magnified image for direct visual inspection, to make a photograph, or to collect data through electro ...

of the

W. M. Keck Observatory The W. M. Keck Observatory is an astronomical observatory with two telescopes at an elevation of 4,145 meters (13,600 ft) near the summit of Mauna Kea in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Both telescopes have aperture primary mirrors, and when comp ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The survey is sponsored by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

. The survey comprises a decade of observations. The survey is led by

Steven Vogt Steven Scott Vogt (born December 20, 1949) is an American astronomer of German descent whose main interest is the search for extrasolar planets. He is credited, along with R. Paul Butler, for discovering Gliese 581 g, the first potentially ha ...

, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at

University of California at Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

, and

R. Paul Butler Robert Paul Butler (born 1960) is an astronomer and staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., who searches for extrasolar planets. he and his team have discovered over half of the planets found orbiting nea ...

of the

Carnegie Institution The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

. The search was started as the San Francisco State University Planet Search in 1987 by

Geoffrey Marcy Geoffrey William Marcy (born September 29, 1954) is an American astronomer. He was an early influence in the field of exoplanet detection, discovery, and characterization. Marcy was a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berk ...

and

, using the

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...

. The founding team was the recipient of the 2002

Carl Sagan Memorial Award The Carl Sagan Memorial Award is an award presented jointly by the American Astronautical Society and The Planetary Society to an individual or group "who has demonstrated leadership in research or policies advancing exploration of the Cosmos." The ...

. It was later renamed the California and Carnegie Planet Search. The activities of the Lick–Carnegie Extrasolar Planet Search Program include precision Doppler based monitoring of over 1330 nearby F, G, K, and M stars for planets using

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

measurements at 2–3 m/s precision. It contributed over 70% of the

known as of 2010. These extrasolar planetary systems display a diversity of orbital periods, sizes, and eccentricities, providing new insight into the origins and evolution of planetary systems. In September 2010, the team announced the discovery of

Gliese 581g Gliese 581g , unofficially known as Zarmina (or Zarmina's World), was a candidate exoplanet postulated to orbit within the Gliese 581 system, twenty light-years from Earth. It was discovered by the Lick–Carnegie Exoplanet Survey, and was the si ...

in orbit within the

Gliese 581 planetary system Gliese 581 () is a red dwarf star of spectral type M3V at the center of the Gliese 581 planetary system, about 20 light years away from Earth in the Libra constellation. Its estimated mass is about a third of that of the Sun, and it is t ...

. The observations place the planet in an area where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface, that is, a

habitable zone In astronomy and astrobiology, the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), or simply the habitable zone, is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure.J. F. Kas ...

. If confirmed, this would be the first strong case for a potentially habitable Earth-like exoplanet yet discovered.First 'habitable zone' planet found outside solar system
/ref>The Lick–Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A 3.1 M_Earth Planet in the Habitable Zone of the Nearby M3V Star Gliese 581
/ref> One contributor to the team was

Peter Jalowiczor Peter Jalowiczor (born 1965) is an Amateur astronomy, amateur astronomer living in South Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. Jalowiczor is primarily known for co-discovering four exoplanets at home using data released to the public by the Universit ...

, an amateur astronomer who analyzed some of the data the team released to the public. His work contributed to the discovery of four exoplanets.

Sources

External links

University of California Observatories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey Exoplanet search projects Astronomical surveys Projects established in 1987