A New High Contrast Imaging Program at Palomar Observatory

Details A New High Contrast Imaging Program at Palomar Observatory A New High Contrast Imaging Program at Palomar Observatory

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010lyot.confe..52h&link_type=abstract

Proceedings of the conference In the Spirit of Lyot 2010: Direct Detection of Exoplanets and Circumstellar Disks. October 25 -

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

I will describe a new instrument that forms the core of a long-term high contrast imaging program at the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory. The primary scientific thrust is to obtain imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy of brown dwarfs and young exoplanets of several Jupiter masses in the vicinity of stars within 25 pc. The instrument is a microlens-based integral field spectrograph integrated with a diffraction-limited, apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph and mounted behind the Palomar AO system. The spectrograph obtains imaging in 23 channels across the J and H bands (1.05 - 1.75 microns). In addition to obtaining spectra, this wavelength resolution allows suppression of the chromatically dependent speckle noise, which we describe. In addition, we have recently installed a JPL-built, precision wave front calibration system internal to the coronagraph. The Palomar AO system is currently undergoing an upgrade to a much higher-order AO system ("PALM-3000"): a 3388-actuator tweeter deformable mirror working together with a 241-actuator mirror. This system will allow correction up to 8.1cm at the telescope pupil using natural guide stars. I will present measurements of our initial sensitivity, and show that spectral speckle suppression is providing a factor of ∼30 improvement over this. This system is part of a new generation of apodized pupil coronagraphs combined with high-order adaptive optics and integral field spectrographs (e.g. GPI, SPHERE, HiCIAO). We anticipate this instrument will make a lasting combination to high contrast imaging in the Northern Hemisphere for several years.

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