The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is assisting the effort with supercomputer time and expertise in NEID's scientific search for new worlds.

The name "NEID" derives from the word meaning "to see" in the native language of the Tohono O'odham, on whose land Kitt Peak National Observatory is located. NEID is a spectrograph attached to the WIYN 3.5m telescope at the observatory in Arizona.

"We're proud that NEID is available to the worldwide astronomical community for exoplanet discovery and characterization," said Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and NEID project scientist. "I can't wait to see the results we and our colleagues around the world will produce over the next few years from discovering new, rocky planets, to measuring the compositions of exoplanetary atmospheres, to measuring the shapes and orientations of planetary orbits, to characterization of the physical processes of these planets' host stars."

NEID does this by breaking down visible light from distant stars into its component wavelengths with a spectrograph, like a simple prism does but with additional parts such as diffraction gratings. Optical fibers feed starlight to the spectrograph, where light signatures are recorded by a detector.

NEID takes advantage of the Doppler effect. The light data collected can be used to detect minute shifts in wavelength over time, which like the pitch change of an approaching or receding train horn, indicates movement. The wobbly movement evidenced by light wavelength shifts indicates a gravitational tug on a host star by potentially undiscovered planets.