Matthew W. Muterspaugh
Papers
4
Total Citations
24
H-Index
3
About
Matthew W. Muterspaugh is an observational astronomer whose research sits at the intersection of precision spectroscopy and exoplanet detection, with a particular focus on developing cutting-edge instrumentation to discover and characterize low-mass planets around nearby stars. His work has centered on designing and deploying innovative spectrographs capable of achieving the extraordinary radial velocity precision required to detect Earth-like and super-Earth-sized worlds. Among his most notable contributions is the development of single-mode fiber-fed echelle spectrographs, which effectively eliminate modal noise — a longstanding limitation in fiber-fed systems — enabling significantly higher Doppler measurement precision. His work on the TOU spectrograph (R=100,000), deployed at Fairborn Observatory's 2-meter robotic telescope, demonstrated competitive on-sky performance in surveying FGK dwarf stars for close-in super-Earths, a population now recognized as remarkably common throughout the galaxy. Muterspaugh also contributed to the design of FIRST, a cryogenic infrared spectrograph optimized for M dwarf planet surveys, extending high-resolution spectroscopy into wavelength regimes critical for characterizing cool stellar hosts. While his citation counts remain modest, his instrumentation-driven approach positions him as a meaningful contributor to the infrastructure of next-generation exoplanet science.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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