Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2010 · 18 citations · 0 references
Natural SciencesAstronomyPhysicsAstrophysicsPlanetary AstronomyPlanetary ScienceExoplanet DetectionObservatory InstrumentationDoppler MeasurementsOptical Telescope SystemsPlanetary InstrumentationRadial Velocity MeasurementsSpace Frame DesignSpectrometer DesignTelescopesThermo-mechanical Design
The Ken and Gloria Levy Spectrometer is being constructed at the Instrument Development Laboratory (Technical Facilities) of UCO/ Lick Observatory for use on the 2.4 meter Automated Planet Finder Telescope at Mt. Hamilton. The mechanical design of the instrument has been optimized for precision Doppler measurements. A key component of the design is the space-frame structure that contains passive thermal compensation. Determinate hexapod structures are used to mount the collimator, prism, and echelle grating. In this paper we describe the instrument mechanical design and some features that will help it detect rocky planets in the habitable zone.