From HARPS to ESPRESSO

Cross-correlation Doppler spectroscopy has demonstrated its exceptional efficiency for the precise measurement of stellar radial velocities. Over the last 50 years, from CORAVEL (1977) to ESPRESSO (2018), precision has increased by a factor of 3000. And now instrumental precision has reached the incredible level of 0.1 m/s: a level required to measure the mass of planets similar to our Earth. The quest for this level of precision and the stability required over several years has involved several stages: "the devil is in the details". These instrumental developments have produced (and continue to produce) superb results, whether in the field of exoplanets or asteroseismology, for example. Here are just a few of the results obtained by HARPS and ESPRESSO