COLLABORATIONS

KESPRINT is an international consortium dedicated to the comprehensive characterization of exoplanets discovered by space-based missions like K2 and TESS. By combining space-based photometry with a global network of ground-based telescopes for high-resolution imaging and radial velocity spectroscopy, the consortium confirms exoplanets and precisely measures their masses, radii, and bulk densities. http://kesprint.science

ANDES (ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph) is a powerful, next-generation spectrograph being built for ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). It will be a primary workhorse for the ELT, with key science goals including the search for biosignatures in the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets, the discovery of the first generation of stars in the Universe, and tests of fundamental physics. https://elt.eso.org/instrument/ANDES/

MARVEL (Mercator Array for Radial Velocities) is an array of four 0.8-meter telescopes being installed at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on La Palma, adjacent to the existing Mercator Telescope. All four telescopes are linked via optical fibers to a single high-resolution echelle spectrograph optimized for extreme-precision radial velocity measurements. Its primary scientific goal is the mass determination of exoplanet candidates discovered by ESA’s PLATO mission, as well as radial velocity follow-up and support for the TESS and ARIEL space missions. https://mercator.iac.es/news/article/Marvel

Earth 2.0 is a Chinese space mission concept designed to discover Earth-like exoplanets, including true Earth analogs (Earth-size planets in Earth-like orbits around Sun-like stars). The mission aims to monitor hundreds of thousands of stars with ultra-high-precision photometry to detect transit signals of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone. The search for Earth-like planets is a central scientific theme of the China-Spain astronomical collaboration, linking Earth 2.0 mission concepts with ground-based follow-up using CHORUS at GTC. https://et.shao.ac.cn/

ExoClock is a citizen science project designed to refine the ephemerides (orbital timing predictions) of exoplanets that will be targeted by the European Space Agency’s ARIEL mission (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey), scheduled for launch in 2029. By coordinating amateur and professional astronomers worldwide to observe exoplanet transits, the project ensures that ARIEL has accurate timing predictions for its atmospheric characterization observations. https://www.exoclock.space

POLLUX is a high-resolution UV spectropolarimeter concept proposed for a future large space mission (e.g., LUVOIR). It is designed to study exoplanet atmospheres, stellar magnetism, and the interstellar medium with unprecedented UV sensitivity. The instrument would enable the detection of key biosignatures such as ozone (O₃) and hydroxyl (OH) in the atmospheres of habitable-zone exoplanets. https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.09067

GOTO (Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer) is a wide-field telescope network designed to bridge the gap between gravitational wave detectors (LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA) and electromagnetic astronomy. By rapidly scanning large areas of the sky, GOTO identifies and characterizes the optical counterparts of neutron star mergers and other gravitational wave events, enabling multi-messenger astrophysics. https://goto-observatory.org/

The JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science (ERS) Program was a community-led program designed to demonstrate JWST’s unparalleled capabilities for exoplanet atmosphere characterization. Using the hot Jupiter WASP-39b as a benchmark, the program obtained transmission spectra across multiple JWST instruments (NIRISS, NIRSpec, NIRCam, MIRI), enabling the first joint analysis of all four instruments and the detection of multiple molecular species including carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.04985