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Precision Astrometry with the Space Interferometry Mission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

Stephen C. Unwin
Stephen C. Unwin*
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA

Abstract

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SIM - the Space Interferometry Mission - will be the first of a new generation of space instruments using interferometry. Designed for precision astrometry, it will be a 10-meter optical interferometer providing 4 microarcsecond (μas) absolute position measurements over the whole sky, using a grid of stars (and quasars) for a reference frame. Maintaining its astrometric precision on stars as faint as 20 magnitude, it will far surpass the capability of ground-based astrometry, opening up a new era of space-based astrometry. A wide range of astrophysics problems will be addressed by SIM, including formation and dynamics of our Galaxy, calibration of the cosmic distance scale, and fundamental stellar astrophysics. SIM will search for planetary companions to nearby stars, by detecting the well-known astrometric ‘wobble’ signature with a single-measurement precision of 1 μas, enabling the detection of planets down to about an Earth mass. SIM will serve as a technology pathfinder for NA8A's Terrestrial Planet Finder. Launch is currently planned for 2008, with a mission duration of 5 years.

Type
Part V: Discovery and study of extrasolar planets - future
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 202: Planetary Systems in the Universe – Observation, Formation and Evolution , 2004 , pp. 474 - 476
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

References

TPF Science Working Group, 1999, Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), JPL Publication 99-3 (http://tpf.jpl.nasa.gov/library/tpf_book/)Google Scholar
Danner, R. M., & Unwin, S. C. 1999, Space Interferometry Mission: Taking the Measure of the Universe, JPL Document 400-811 3/99 (Pasadena, California).Google Scholar
Peterson, D. M., & Shao, M. 2000, SIM Science Working Group Final Report, JPL (http://sim.jpl.nasa.gov/library/technical_papers.html)Google Scholar