UNM Department of Physics and Astronomy receives $750,000 grant from NASA on research of exoplanets
August 1, 2023 - Dani Rae Wascher
The University of New Mexico's Department of Physics and Astronomy received a $750,000 grant from NASA for its research on exoplanets. With NASA's assistance, the Department of Physics and Astronomy is able to utilize the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) telescope and analyze data to determine the existence of exoplanets.
Diana Dragomir, assistant professor, defines exoplanets as, "any planet outside the solar system that orbits another star, other than the sun; that's what we call an exoplanet." Various methods exist for discovering exoplanets. The TESS telescope employs the transit method, which involves observing numerous stars in the hope of finding an exoplanet.
The TESS telescope, described by Dragomir as slightly larger than a fridge, follows an elliptical orbit reaching a distance equivalent to that between the Earth and the Moon. This survey satellite is equipped with four cameras, capturing rectangular images spanning from the celestial equator to the pole. It conducts a 27-day-long sky survey during which it remains oriented on a specific plane.
Dragomir explains, "In cases where that plane aligns with our line of sight and a planet passes between the star and our telescope, we may observe a transit—a temporary dimming of the star's brightness caused by the planet crossing in front of it from our viewpoint." The telescope's primary objective is to identify transiting exoplanets orbiting nearby bright stars, enabling more detailed studies of exoplanets than was previously possible.
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