In its first months of operation, the APF has found two new
planetary systems, giving astronomers a taste of planetary riches to come
Lick Observatory's newest telescope, the Automated Planet
Finder (APF), has been operating robotically night after night on Mt. Hamilton
since January, searching nearby stars for Earth-sized planets. Every night the
fully autonomous system checks the weather, decides which stars to observe, and
moves the telescope from star to star throughout the night, collecting
measurements that will reveal the presence of planets.