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Abstract

Precision Astrometry with the SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory

SIM Lite is an observatory mission dedicated to precision astrometry. As a flexibly pointed instrument, it is a natural complement to sky surveys such as JMAPS and Gaia, and is well suited to experiments that do not need a large number of targets. With an accuracy of 1 microarcsecond (μas) in a single measurement accuracy and a noise floor below 0.035 μas it will have the capability to do an extensive search for Earth-mass planets in the ‘habitable zone’ around several dozen of the nearest stars. SIM Lite has a wide-angle accuracy of 4 μas for targets as faint as V = 19, opening up a wide range of problems in stellar and Galactic astrophysics. At microarcsecond precision SIM, like Gaia, will be sensitive to several relativistic effects, notably the PPN γ parameter, and they must be carefully accounted for the astrometry to be consistent. SIM Lite will have an open General Observer (GO) program, for all categories of astrometric observations. The project successfully completed a series of technology milestones in 2005, and is currently under study by NASA as a flight mission. The research described in this talk was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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