HARPS, the planet hunter

Inside the control room of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at its observatory in La Silla, this computer monitor displays the status of the HARPS instrument. HARPS is an amazingly precise spectrograph which has been designed specifically to search for planets around other stars. It is being used in the Pale Red Dot campaign to carefully monitor the motion of the nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, in the hope of seeing the telltale signs of a planet in orbit around it. For the first time, astronomers are sharing details of their search with the public as the project progresses.

Pale Red Dot is an international search for an Earth-like exoplanet around the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri. It will use HARPS, attached to the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory, as well as the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) and the Burst Optical Observer and Transient Exploring System (BOOTES). The public will see how teams of astronomers with different specialities work together to collect, analyse and interpret data, which may or may not be able to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest neighbour. The outreach campaign consists of blog posts and social media updates on the Pale Red Dot Twitter account and using the hashtag #PaleRedDot. For more information visit the Pale Red Dot website: http://www.palereddot.org