Finding Alien Worlds in Queensland -- A Decade of MINERVA-Australis

TL;DR

MINERVA-Australis is a dedicated ground-based observatory in Queensland that has confirmed and characterized over 40 exoplanets, supporting TESS discoveries and advancing exoplanet research.

Contribution

The paper introduces MINERVA-Australis, a unique southern hemisphere facility that has significantly contributed to exoplanet confirmation and characterization over a decade.

Findings

Contributed to the discovery of 40 new exoplanets.

Supported TESS by providing follow-up observations.

Continued legacy radial velocity data collection.

Abstract

Three decades ago, humanity entered the Exoplanet Era, with the discovery of the first planets orbiting other stars. Today, more than 6000 exoplanets are known - a tally recently bolstered by NASA's TESS spacecraft. Whilst TESS is an exceptional planet finding machine, dedicated follow-up observations from the ground are required to confirm the existence of the planets it discovers. To achieve this, we constructed the southern hemisphere's only dedicated exoplanet detection and characterisation facility, MINERVA-Australis, at the University of Southern Queensland's Mt Kent Observatory. Funded in 2015, MINERVA-Australis saw first light in 2018, in time for the launch of TESS. MINERVA-Australis has since been scouring the skies, working to confirm and characterise the incredible harvest of planets detected by TESS. To date, the facility has contributed to the discovery of 40 new exoplanets, and continued the legacy of radial velocity data from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search program.