SIM is an astrometric mission that will be capable of 1 microarcsec relative astrometric accuracy in a single measurement of ~1000 sec. The search for terrestrial planets in the habitable zone around nearby stars is one of the main science goals of the project. In 2001, NASA through the peer review process selected 10 key projects, two of which had as its goal, the search for terrestrial planets around nearby stars. The two teams, one led by G. Marcy (UC Berkeley) and one lead by M. Shao (JPL), have an extensive preparatory science program underway. This paper describes the status of this activity as well as the technology status of SIM's narrow angle astrometry capability, to reach 1 μas in a single epoch measure and its ability to average multiple epoch measurements to well below 1 μas.

Date Published: 28 June 2006
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry, 62681Z (28 June 2006);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6268:
Advances in Stellar Interferometry
John D. Monnier; Markus Schöller; William C. Danchi, Editor(s)