GAOES-RV∗ (Gunma Astronomical Observatory Echelle Spectrograph for Radial Velocimetry) is a high-dispersion echelle spectrograph for the 3.8 m Seimei Telescope at Okayama Observatory, Kyoto University. GAOES†, the predecessor of GAOES-RV, had been operated with the 1.5 m telescope at Gunma Astronomical Observatory until 2020, and it was refashioned and moved to the Seimei Telescope as a precision RV instrument, GAOES-RV.
A multi-mode optical fiber of GAOES-RV collects stellar light within a 2.2 arcsec diameter field-of-view (FOV) at the Nasmyth focus, and an image slicer is used at the other end of the fiber to achieve the high spectral resolution of R=65,000 for such a wide FOV. The wavelength coverage of GAOES-RV is 516–593 nm and the total throughput is ∼2.5–3%. GAOES-RV achieves a precision of about 2 m s−1 in RV measurements for a bright slowly-rotating solar-type star using an iodine absorption cell.
GAOES-RV has been in operation since July 2023, and is widely used for a variety of scientific observations, including the detection and characterization of exoplanets, stellar abundance analysis, and research on active stars.
The InfraRed Doppler (IRD) instrument is the Subaru telescope’s high-resolution (R > 70,000) spectrograph covering wavelengths from 1000 to 1700 nm. A laser frequency comb (LFC) spectrum simultaneously obtained with an object spectrum calibrates wavelength shifts caused by instrumental instability. We originally developed IRD to carry out precision radial velocity (RV) measurements at near-infrared wavelengths. The wide wavelength coverage of IRD, and the large mirror (8.2 m) of the Subaru Telescope enables IRD to provide the best sensitivities to detect a planet orbiting a cool M-type star. The first science operation of IRD was conducted in 2018 and the large strategic blind survey for planets orbiting cool M-type stars started in 2019. Since then, there have been many observations not only for exoplanet category but also for stellar physics, Galaxy, and high-energy astrophysics. IRD spectroscopy allowed for characterizing exoplanet atmospheres by measuring OH emissions, He absorptions, and spin-orbit obliquities. The IRD survey discovered a super-Earth in orbit near a habitable zone of Ross 508. The IRD RV measurements for many systems that host transiting planets, including TOI-2285 b and Gliese 12 b, helped confirm those and determine or constrain their masses. Using REACH, IRD can be combined with the extreme adaptive optics SCExAO, enabling the use of a single-mode fiber and characterizations of faint sub-stellar companions orbiting bright stars. In this proceeding paper, we review and highlight the scientific results achieved by the IRD observations.
We report on performance studies for wavelength calibration using a laser frequency comb and the fiber-fed HIgh Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph (HIDES-F) on the Okayama 188cm telescope. We use a laser frequency comb system that has been recently developed and reported. The comb is based on an erbium-doped fiber-based femtosecond laser and can generate comb-shaped laser modes with a wavelength range of 350nm - 408nm, 453nm - 543nm, and 664nm - 873nm with a mode spacing of 30GHz. The comb has been installed in a room of the Okayama 188cm telescope dome and has been in operation since 2020. The comb spectra were obtained during observations for precision radial velocity (RV) measurements with an iodine absorption for about two years. Using the spectra of the comb and other wavelength calibrators, we have measured instrument shifts of HIDES-F and evaluated its effects on wavelength calibration for precise RV measurements.
We assessed the impact of Earth’s atmospheric absorption lines, known as telluric contamination, on near-infrared radial velocity (RV) measurements using IRD/Subaru. We focused on the telluric removal process implemented in the RV pipeline for IRD data, which works in two phases: the creation of a stellar template spectrum and the measurement of RVs through a forward modeling approach. Our analysis revealed that discrepancies of approximately 1% exist between the observed telluric standard star’s spectra and theoretical telluric spectra, both used within the RV pipeline. These discrepancies are particularly significant in regions with strong water vapor absorption. Additionally, we investigated the impacts of residual tellurics on RV measurements through mock spectrum analysis. By comparing RV values derived from mock spectra made with either theoretical or observed tellurics, we found that residual tellurics can introduce an additional scatter of at least 1 m/s in RV measurements. Our findings highlight the necessity for improved telluric removal methods in the near-infrared spectrum to achieve precise RV measurements critical for detecting small-mass planets.
The South Africa Near-infrared Doppler instrument (SAND) is a time-stable high-dispersion spectrograph, covering the z- and Y-bands simultaneously (849 - 1085 nm) with the maximum spectral resolution of ∼60,000. We aim to monitor the radial velocity of M-dwarfs with the precision of a few m/s level, which enables us to search for habitable exoplanets. Our another scientific motivation is the statistical investigation of young planets and stellar atmosphere to comprehensively understand the formation senario of stellar systems. We are planning to install the SAND to telescopes at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Sutherland, since the Southern sky covers plentiful stellar associations with young stars. The SAND is a fiber-fed spectrograph, and we can change telescope used to collect the star light by switching the fiber connection. It will be operated mainly with two telescopes: the Prime-focus Infrared Microlensing Experience telescope (PRIME) and the InfraRed Survey Facility (IRSF), which both are managed by universities in Japan. This strategy of using multiple telescopes gives us opportunities of frequent and long-term observations, which provides well phase coverage in radial velocity monitoring and results in non-bias search for exoplanets. Most of the components used in the spectrograph and the fiber injection module have been fabricated. We will present the detailed status and recent progress: designing the fiber injection module and the thermal control system, examination of fiber characteristics, and estimating our target candidates.
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