The Magellan Planet Search Program is a ground based extrasolar planet search device which began gathering data in December 2002. It utilizes the MIKE echelle spectrograph mounted on the Magellan Telescopes which are twin, 6.5m Magellan II (Clay) telescope located within the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.[1][2]
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The MIKE echelle spectograph works at a resolution of R ~ 50,000 when gathering spectra that covers a wavelength 3900 to 6200 Å. MIKE is divided into a red and blue CCD. The blue CCD captures stellar activities while the red CCD falls into a temperature controlled Iodine absorption cell is mounted in front of the MIKE entrance slit, this imprints iodine spectrum referencing directly to starlight.[2]
The program is surveying approximately 400 stars which ranges from F7 to M5 type stars. The stars included in the program has been chosen to minimize overlapping surveys with both Anglo-Australian Planet Search (AAT) and the KECK programs. Any star with larger jitters have been removed from the program specifically those that has 2 magnitudes above the main sequence when basing it from Hipparcos distances. The Magellan Planet Search Program[2] has discovered 5 eccentric Jupiter-mass planets. Announcement was made in January 2010, regarding the discovery of the 5 long period extra-solar planets from Magellan velocity surveys. They were found orbiting G and K type dwarfs which are jovian-mass planets in both long-period and eccentric orbits.[2][3][1]
As of January 2010 the program has discovered 9 extra-solar planets and astronomical objects including the 5 eccentric Jupiter-mass planets.
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