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# WIYN Telescope

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## Telescope Details

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#### **Location:**

Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona 

#### **Purpose:**

This telescope is on the hunt for exoplanets — planets outside of our solar system. 

#### **NIST’s role:**

A telescope instrument called NEID searches for and tracks the wobbling of starlight due to a gravitational pull from an orbiting planet. This requires lots of measurements, so NIST provided an astro-etalon as a reliable reference. An etalon sends light into a cavity that only certain frequencies, or colors, can pass through. It’s a simpler, more stable backup for the spectrograph’s laser frequency comb normally used as a ruler for light. NEID was built by a consortium led by Pennsylvania State University and funded by the joint NASA/NSF Exoplanet Exploration Program. Consortium partners included NIST, NASA, the University of Pennsylvania, Macquarie University, Carleton College, NOAO and PRL India. 

#### **Significant discoveries:**

NEID began scientific operations in July 2021.

#### **Other interesting facts:**

The name NEID — pronounced NOO-id — is derived from the word meaning “to see” in the native language of the Tohono O’odham, on whose land Kitt Peak National Observatory is located.

#### **Operated by:**

WIYN is owned and operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Missouri and Purdue University.

## Media

Credit:

ElectronicsSensorsPhysics

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