Abstract
The All-Sky Extrasolar Planet Survey (ASEPS) is to use wide-field telescopes (initially the Sloan telescope, later with larger aperture wide-field telescopes) and new generation high-throughput multiple object Doppler instruments to monitor millions of nearby bright stars for detecting tens of thousands of extrasolar planets in the next two decades. Currently, the single-object version of the dispersed fixed-delay interferometric instrument at the KPNO Coude feed 0.9 meter telescope has already detected one planet (with period 4.11 days and mass 0.49 Jupiter masses) around a V = 8.05 mag star (Ge et al. 2006). In the visible band, ASEPS will increase the number of known planetary systems by at least two orders of magnitude, providing a powerful statistical base for understanding different kinds of planetary systems. The survey has the sensitivity to detect Jupiter-mass planets at Jupiter distances from the parent stars. The survey conducted in the near-infrared band may lead to many discoveries of terrestrial-like planets in the habitable zones around low-mass stars. Recent observations at the Sloan telescope demonstrate the feasibility of the multiple object planet survey as well as the parallel faint SDSS object spectroscopic survey. This further suggests that it is feasible to combine Doppler instruments with other astronomical instruments into one instrument package to increase the scientific productivity, and operational efficiency and to reduce the instrument cost at future large wide-field telescopes.
