  An optical fiber link to a telescope provides many advantages for
spectrometers designed to detect and characterize extrasolar planets through
precise radial velocity (PRV) measurements. In the seeing-limited regime, a
multi-mode fiber is typically used so that a significant amount of starlight
may be captured. In the near-diffraction-limited case, either with an adaptive
optics system or with a small telescope at an excellent site, efficiently
coupling starlight into a much smaller, single-mode fiber may be possible. In
general, a spectrometer designed for single-mode fiber input will be
substantially less costly than one designed for multi-mode fiber input. We
describe the results of tests coupling starlight from a 70 cm telescope at Mt.
Hopkins, Arizona into the single-mode fiber of the MINERVA-Red spectrometer at
a wavelength of ~850 nm using a low-speed tip/tilt image stabilization system
comprising all commercial, off-the-shelf components. We find that approximately
0.5% of the available starlight is coupled into the single-mode fiber under
seeing conditions typical for observatories hosting small telescopes, which is
close to the theoretical expectation. We discuss scientific opportunities for
small telescopes paired with inexpensive, high-resolution spectrometers, as
well as upgrade paths that should significantly increase the coupling
efficiency for the MINERVA-Red system.
