Chris Tinney

Last updated

Chris Tinney is an astronomer at the University of New South Wales who is focused on extrasolar planet and brown dwarf research. He is a member of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search team which has discovered over twenty planets by doppler spectroscopy. He is also the former head of astronomy at the Anglo-Australian Observatory.


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siding Spring Observatory</span> Astronomic observatory in New South Wales, Australia

Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a collection of other telescopes owned by the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, and other institutions. The observatory is situated 1,165 metres (3,822 ft) above sea level in the Warrumbungle National Park on Mount Woorat, also known as Siding Spring Mountain. Siding Spring Observatory is owned by the Australian National University (ANU) and is part of the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories research school.

HD 117618, named Dofida by the IAU, is a single, yellow-hued star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. With an apparent visual magnitude of 7.17, it is too faint to be visible to the naked eyes of a typical observer. The distance to this star, as determined from its annual parallax shift of 26.34±0.60 mas as seen from Earth's orbit, is about 124 light years. It is moving further away with a heliocentric radial velocity of around +1.6 km/s.

HD 102117 or Uklun is a star in the southern constellation of Centaurus. With an apparent visual magnitude of 7.47, it is too dim to be seen without binoculars or a small telescope. It is located at a distance of approximately 129 light years from the Sun based on parallax. HD 102117 is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +50 km/s, having come to within 43.9 light-years some 692,000 years ago. It has one known planet.

HD 179949 is a 6th magnitude star in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is a yellow-white dwarf, a type of star hotter and more luminous than the Sun. The star is located about 90 light years from Earth and might be visible under exceptionally good conditions to an experienced observer without technical aid; usually binoculars are needed.

HD 142 is a wide binary star system in the southern constellation of Phoenix. The main component has a yellow-white hue and is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.7. The system is located at a distance of 85.5 light years from the Sun based on parallax measurements, and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +6 km/s.

The Anglo Australian Planet Search or (AAPS) is a long-term astronomical survey started in 1998 and continuing to the present. It is being carried out on the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) of the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Australia. The purpose of this survey is to catalog planets around more than 240 nearby stars of the southern hemisphere. For its observations, the AAT uses the University College London Echelle Spectrograph, UCLES, an echelle spectrograph from the University College London located at the telescope's coudé focus. This survey uses the radial velocity method to search for extrasolar planets.

HD 30177 is a single star with a pair of orbiting exoplanets in the southern constellation Dorado. Based on parallax measurements, it is located at a distance of 181 light years from the Sun. It has an absolute magnitude of 4.72, but at that distance the star is too faint to be viewed by the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 8.41. The star is drifting further away with a radial velocity of 62.7 km/s.

HD 142 b is a jovian exoplanet approximately 85.5 light years away in the constellation of Phoenix. This planet was discovered in 2001 by the Anglo-Australian Planet Search team.

HD 73526 b is an extrasolar planet orbiting about 61 million miles away from its parent star. This planet is more massive than Jupiter in the Solar System, so is most likely a gas giant. Based on its orbit and the stellar luminosity, the planet probably receives insolation 61% that of Mercury. HD 73526 b is in a 2:1 orbital resonance with HD 73526 c. Every time planet b goes around its sun twice, planet c goes around once.

HD 117618 b, named Noifasui by the IAU, is an exoplanet discovered orbiting the star HD 117618 in September 2004. The planet is a small gas giant less than a fifth the mass of Jupiter. It orbits close to its star in a very eccentric orbit.

HD 159868 b is an extrasolar planet that orbits HD 159868. It is a jovian planet. The orbit is nearly circular at the average distance of 2.25 AU.

HD 154857 b is an extrasolar planet approximately 224 light years away in the constellation of Ara. This is a gas giant mass that orbits the star in an eccentric orbit. This planet was detected by using Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) UCLE spectrometer.

HD 187085 b is an extrasolar planet discovered in 2006 by a team led by Hugh Jones. HD 187085 b orbits its star in a highly eccentric orbit. The discovery was made as part of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search.

HD 30177 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 181.6 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado, orbiting the star HD 30177.

HD 208487 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 144 light-years away in the constellation of Grus, orbiting the star HD 208487. This planet has a minimum mass close to half that of Jupiter and is most probably a gas giant. The planet orbits the star in a close, eccentric orbit. One revolution takes 130 days to complete. This planet was discovered on September 16, 2004 by Tinney, Butler, and Marcy et al. using Doppler spectroscopy to measure the star's radial velocity changing over time as the planet revolves around its orbit.

HD 102117 b, formally named Leklsullun, is a planet that orbits the star HD 102117. The planet is a small gas giant a fifth the size of Jupiter. It orbits very close to its star, but not in a "torch orbit" like the famous 51 Pegasi b. It was one of the smallest extrasolar planets discovered as of 2006.

HD 154857 c is an extrasolar planet located approximately 224 light-years away in the constellation of Ara, orbiting the star HD 154857. This planet takes about 3470 days to orbit the star.

HD 1461 b is an extrasolar planet, orbiting the 6th magnitude G-type star HD 1461, 76.5 light years away in the constellation Cetus. This planet has a minimum mass 6.4 times that of Earth and orbits at a distance of 0.0634 AU with an eccentricity of less than 0.131. It is currently unknown whether the planet is a gas giant like Uranus or Neptune, or has terrestrial composition like CoRoT-7b. This planet was announced on 13 December 2009 after it was discovered using radial velocity measurements taken at the Keck and Anglo-Australian Observatories.

The Fiber-Optic Improved Next-Generation Doppler Search for Exo-Earths is a radial-velocity spectrograph developed by Debra Fischer. It is installed on the 3 meter telescope in Lick Observatory in Mount Hamilton. It has been in operation since 2009 and is being used to verify exoplanet candidates found by Kepler.

Robert A. Wittenmyer is an American-born Australian astrophysicist and astronomer. He has led the team of researchers who discovered the exoplanet Gliese 832 c. He is the leader of a collaboration between Australian, Chinese, and the US exoplanet search team and also a member of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search. He is currently employed by the University of Southern Queensland located in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia as an Associate Professor.