Over the last 7 years roughly 100 extrasolar planets have been discovered, all from the precision Doppler velocity technique. The planets detected to date have profoundly challenged theories of planet formation and evolution, and motivated major space missions. The PI will continue this work in the southern hemisphere through the Anglo-Australian Planet Search program. This is the only southern hemisphere program to achieve the level of precision required for the detection of genuine "Solar System analogs", that is Jupiter and Saturn-mass planets beyond 4 astronomical units (the earth-Sun distance). With increased telescope access based on their successes the PI will increase their target list to include the 250 nearest and brightest southern hemisphere stars providing the first planetary census of nearby stars. This work has been credited with providing the motivation for the new disciplines of Astrobiology and extrasolar planet studies, and it is routinely reported in the popular press.
