高精度視線速度系外惑星探査装置
Like the other two exoplanets, HD 40307 b and HD 40307 d, orbiting the star HD 40307, HD 40307 c was discovered by measuring variations in the radial velocity of HD 40307 caused by the star's orbit around the center of mass of the planetary system. These measurements were made by the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher spectrograph apparatus (HARPS) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. The discovery of planets in the HD 40307 system was announced in an astrophysics convention that took place in Nantes, France in mid-June 2008.