Faculty in these research areas: Courtney Dressing, Eugene Chiang, Paul Kalas
Automated Planet Finder
The Automated Planet Finder (APF) is a robotic 2.4-meter optical telescope stationed at Lick Observatory designed to assist with the search for extrasolar planets. The APF operates by targeting preprogrammed stars and observing them nightly over the course of several months in efforts to detect stellar motion and locate habitable planets.
Breakthrough Listen Initiative
Lead: Andrew Siemion
The Breakthrough Listen Initiative, sponsored by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, is the most powerful, comprehensive and intensive scientific search ever undertaken for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth. The project is using the Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, the Parkes Telescope in Australia and the MeerKat Array in South Africa to search for radio transmissions from advanced civilizations. In addition, the Automated Planet Finder at Lick Observatory is being used to search for optical laser transmissions from other technological civilizations. Additional partnerships with other international facilities, including FAST (China) and the Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK), extend the program’s observational reach.
The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey
Lead: Paul Kalas
James Graham
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is an advanced science instrument that exploits the latest generation of adaptive optics technology, coronagraphy and detectors. We commissioned GPI at the Gemini South telescope in Chile in 2014 and finished a five-year survey for exoplanets called GPIES (GPI Exoplanet Survey). Among the many discoveries were the planet 51 Eri b and many dusty debris disks, published in over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts. GPI will be upgraded and installed on Gemini North in Hawaii in 2025.