The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has been in operation since 2000 April. This paper presents the tenth public data release (DR10) from its current incarnation, SDSS-III. This data release includes the first spectroscopic data from the Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), along with spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) taken through 2012 July. The APOGEE instrument is a near-infrared R ∼ 22,500 300-fiber spectrograph covering 1.514-1.696 µm. The APOGEE survey is studying the chemical abundances and radial velocities of roughly 100,000 red giant star candidates in the bulge, bar, disk, and halo of the Milky Way. DR10 includes 178,397 spectra of 57,454 stars, each typically observed three or more times, from APOGEE. Derived quantities from these spectra (radial velocities, effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities) are also included. arXiv:1307.7735v3 [astro-ph.IM] 17 Jan 2014 2 DR10 also roughly doubles the number of BOSS spectra over those included in the ninth data release. DR10 includes a total of 1,507,954 BOSS spectra, comprising 927,844 galaxy spectra; 182,009 quasar spectra; and 159,327 stellar spectra, selected over 6373.2 deg 2 .

The M dwarf star Gliese 581 is believed to host four planets, including one (GJ 581d) near the habitable zone that could possibly support liquid water on its surface if it is a rocky planet. The detection of another habitable-zone planet--GJ 581g--is disputed, as its significance depends on the eccentricity assumed for d. Analyzing stellar activity using the Hα line, we measure a stellar rotation period of 130 ± 2 days and a correlation for Hα modulation with radial velocity. Correcting for activity greatly diminishes the signal of GJ 581d (to 1.5 standard deviations) while significantly boosting the signals of the other known super-Earth planets. GJ 581d does not exist, but is an artifact of stellar activity which, when incompletely corrected, causes the false detection of planet g.

The discovery and characterization of exoplanets around nearby stars is driven by profound scientific questions about the uniqueness of Earth and our Solar System, and the conditions under which life could exist elsewhere in our Galaxy. Doppler spectroscopy, or the radial velocity (RV) technique, has been used extensively to identify hundreds of exoplanets, but with notable challenges in detecting terrestrial mass planets orbiting within habitable zones. We describe infrared RV spectroscopy at the 10 m Hobby-Eberly telescope that leverages a 30 GHz electro-optic laser frequency comb with nanophotonic supercontinuum to calibrate the Habitable Zone Planet Finder spectrograph. Demonstrated instrument precision <10 cm/s and stellar RVs approaching 1 m/s open the path to discovery and confirmation of habitable zone planets around M-dwarfs, the most ubiquitous type of stars in our Galaxy. Fig.1. Instrumentation for precision infrared astronomical RV spectroscopy. (A) Starlight is collected by the Hobby-Eberly telescope and directed to an optical fiber. Lasers, electro-optics and nanophotonics are used to generate an optical frequency comb with teeth spaced by 30 GHz and stabilized to an atomic clock. Both the starlight and frequency comb light are coupled to the highly-stabilized Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) spectrograph where minute wavelength changes in the stellar spectrum are tracked with the precise calibration grid provided by the laser frequency comb. (B) Components for frequency comb generation. (upper) A fiber-optic integrated electro-optic modulator and (lower) silicon nitride chip (5 mm × 3 mm) on which nanophotonic waveguides are patterned. Light is coupled into a waveguide from the left and supercontinuum is extracted from the right with a lensed fiber. (C) The HPF spectrograph, opened and showing the camera optics on the left, echelle grating on the right, and relay mirrors in front. The spectrograph footprint is approximately 1.5 m × 3 m. (D) The 10 m Hobby-Eberly telescope at the McDonald Observatory in southwest Texas.

We validate the discovery of a 2 Earth radii sub-Neptune-size planet around the nearby high proper motion M2.5-dwarf G 9-40 (EPIC 212048748), using high-precision near-infrared (NIR) radial velocity (RV) observations with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), precision diffuser-assisted ground-based photometry with a custom narrow-band photometric filter, and adaptive optics imaging. At a distance of d = 27.9 pc, G 9-40b is the second closest transiting planet discovered by K2 to date. The planet's large transit depth (∼3500ppm), combined with the proximity and brightness of the host star at NIR wavelengths (J=10, K=9.2) makes G 9-40b one of the most favorable sub-Neptune-sized planet orbiting an M-dwarf for transmission spectroscopy with JWST, ARIEL, and the upcoming Extremely Large Telescopes. The star is relatively inactive with a rotation period of ∼29 days determined from the K2 photometry. To estimate spectroscopic stellar parameters, we describe our implementation of an empirical spectral matching algorithm using the high-resolution NIR HPF spectra. Using this algorithm, we obtain an effective temperature of T eff = 3404 ± 73K, and metallicity of [Fe/H] = −0.08 ± 0.13. Our RVs, when coupled with the orbital parameters derived from the transit photometry, exclude planet masses above 11.7M ⊕ with 99.7% confidence assuming a circular orbit. From its radius, we predict a mass of M = 5.0 +3.8 −1.9 M ⊕ and an RV semi-amplitude of K = 4.1 +3.1 −1.6 m s −1 , making its mass measurable with current RV facilities. We urge further RV follow-up observations to precisely measure its mass, to enable precise transmission spectroscopic measurements in the future.

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.

Understanding the dynamics and kinematics of outflowing atmospheres of hot and warm exoplanets is crucial to understanding the origins and evolutionary history of the exoplanets near the evaporation desert. Recently, groundbased measurements of the meta-stable helium atom's resonant absorption at 10830 Å has become a powerful probe of the base environment which is driving the outflow of exoplanet atmospheres. We report evidence for the He I 10830 Å in absorption (equivalent width ∼0.012±0.002 Å) in the exosphere of a warm Neptune orbiting the M-dwarf GJ 3470, during three transits using the Habitable Zone Planet Finder near-infrared spectrograph. This marks the first reported evidence for He I 10830 Å atmospheric absorption for a planet orbiting an M-dwarf. Our detected absorption is broad and its blueshifted wing extends to −36 km s −1 , the largest reported in the literature to date. We modeled the state of helium atoms in the exosphere of GJ3470b based on assumptions on the UV and X-ray flux of GJ 3470, and found our measurement of flux-weighted column density of meta-stable state helium () =´-N 2.4 10 cm He S 10 2 3 2 , derived from our transit observations, to be consistent with the model, within its uncertainties. The methodology developed here will be useful to study and constrain the atmospheric outflow models of other exoplanets like GJ 3470b, which are near the edge of the evaporation desert. Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Exoplanet atmospheric composition (2021); Exoplanet atmospheres (487); Exosphere (499); High resolution spectroscopy (2096); Near infrared astronomy (1093); Exoplanet astronomy (486)

Kapteyn's star is an old M subdwarf believed to be a member of the Galactic halo population of stars. A recent study has claimed the existence of two super-Earth planets around the star based on radial velocity (RV) observations. The innermost of these candidate planets-Kapteyn b (P = 48 days)-resides within the circumstellar habitable zone. Given recent progress in understanding the impact of stellar activity in detecting planetary signals, we have analyzed the observed HARPS data for signatures of stellar activity. We find that while Kapteyn's star is photometrically very stable, a suite of spectral activity indices reveals a large-amplitude rotation signal, and we determine the stellar rotation period to be 143 days. The spectral activity tracers are strongly correlated with the purported RV signal of "planet b," and the 48-day period is an integer fraction (1/3) of the stellar rotation period. We conclude that Kapteyn b is not a planet in the Habitable Zone, but an artifact of stellar activity.

Insufficient instrument thermomechanical stability is one of the many roadblocks for achieving 10cm s −1 Doppler radial velocity precision, the precision needed to detect Earth-twins orbiting solar-type stars. Highly temperature and pressure stabilized spectrographs allow us to better calibrate out instrumental drifts, thereby helping in distinguishing instrumental noise from astrophysical stellar signals. We present the design and performance of the Environmental Control System (ECS) for the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), a high-resolution (R = 50,000) fiber-fed near-infrared (NIR) spectrograph for the 10 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory. HPF will operate at 180 K, driven by the choice of an H2RG NIR detector array with a m 1.7 m cutoff. This ECS has demonstrated 0.6 mK rms stability over 15 days at both 180 and 300 K, and maintained high-quality vacuum (< -10 Torr 7) over months, during long-term stability tests conducted without a planned passive thermal enclosure surrounding the vacuum chamber. This control scheme is versatile and can be applied as a blueprint to stabilize future NIR and optical high-precision Doppler instruments over a wide temperature range from ∼77 K to elevated room temperatures. A similar ECS is being implemented to stabilize NEID, the NASA/NSF NN-EXPLORE spectrograph for the 3.5 m WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak, operating at 300 K. A [full SolidWorks 3D-CAD model] and a comprehensive parts list of the HPF ECS are included with this manuscript to facilitate the adaptation of this versatile environmental control scheme in the broader astronomical community.