Paper 14145-37
Paper 14145-37
Astrometric detection of rocky exoplanets from inexpensive space platforms
7 July 2026 • 10:30 - 10:50 CEST | Room B4-M3
Abstract
The detection of exoplanets by way of astrometric monitoring of the host star to reveal gravitational reflex motion requires extreme precision in measurement stability for Earth-mass objects. Despite this, astrometry is widely regarded as the most promising technology for the most desired of all targets: true Earth analogues in the solar neighbourhood. Formerly thought to require flagship class investment, recently several smaller concepts such as the TOLIMAN and SHERA missions have shown that detections are possible, at least in principle, from more modest space platforms. A key enabling feature of these missions is narrow-angle astrometry: a binary star provides its own astrometric reference greatly alleviating problems from using distant, faint field stars. However, few nearby star systems are multiple. This paper advances novel optical concepts featuring ultra-stable telescopes of modest (<0.5m) aperture for micro-arcsecond monitoring of isolated single stars.
Presenter
The Univ. of Sydney (Australia)
Peter Tuthill is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Sydney with interests in stellar and exoplanetary astrophysics as well as optics, photonics and principled data analytics especially as applied to advanced concepts in astronomical instrumentation. He holds BSc degrees in physics from the University of Queensland and Australian National University, and a doctorate in astrophysics from Cambridge University, where he developed an interest in astronomical imaging and stellar interferometry. He has worked at the University of California at Berkeley in the group led by Prof Charles Townes developing the ISI heterodyne stellar interferometer. Tuthill leads a number of imaging experiments and major international projects, designing innovative instrumentation for many of the world's largest optical observatories both on the ground and in space. These have contributed key insights across a wide range of astronomical themes within stellar and exoplanetary astrophysics.