Scientific Objectives

• Search for extra-solar planet systems by monitoring the radial-velocity variations of the central star. With this method the first extra-solar planet was discovered around the sun-like star 51 Peg. Click here to see the measured radial-velocity curve of 51 Peg.
• Probing the stellar structure and the interiors of stars by methods of asteroseismology, i.e., measurements of stellar oscillations.
• Determination of chemical abundances in the Galaxy and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds using high-resolution spectra of hot and cool stars.
• Long-term monitoring of hydrodynamic phenomena in hot stellar atmospheres by following the line-profile variations of photospheric and wind lines over their characteristic time scales from hours to months.
• Chromospheric variability of K giant stars by the simultaneous observation of the CaII H&K, H, and the infrared triplett (IRT) lines.
• Observations of diffuse insterstellar clouds in the interstellar medium which have a typical velocity seperation of 6 km/s
• Study of the relation of the dynamics and the ages of star clusters, which serve as key calibration objects for the stellar and cosmic age scale.
• Probing the galactic structure by measuring the radial velocity together with the effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity of A-type stars in the Galactic disk.

If you have any comments on the FEROS project, please send me a mail .