Imaging planets about other stars with UMBRAS

Details Imaging planets about other stars with UMBRAS Imaging planets about other stars with UMBRAS

Dec 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999spie.3759...49s&link_type=abstract

Proc. SPIE Vol. 3759, p. 49-58, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing VII, Marija Strojnik; Bjorn F. Andresen; Eds.

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Scientific paper

Direct imaging of terrestrial and Jupiter-size planets about other stars is a major goal of NASA's Origins Program and should be as well for the next generation of spaceborne telescopes. In this paper, we discuss a free-flying occulter to augment the design and imaging capability of space-based telescopes. The Umbral Mission Blocking Radiating Astronomical Sources (UMBRAS) space mission would consist of a Solar- Powered Ion-Driven Eclipsing Rover (SPIDER) and possibly one or two metrology platforms. The UMBRAS spacecraft would be semi-autonomous, with their own propulsion systems, internal power (solar cells), communications, and navigation capability. The spacecraft (the telescope, SPIDER, and any metrology platform) would define a reference frame for aligning the telescope and the SPIDER with the observed target. When stationed at distances of 1,000 to 15,000 km from a telescope, the occulter will enable an 8 m telescope to image very faint sources as close as 0.15' from the target stars. Three of the Doppler-detected planets about nearby stars are at this separation and could be directly imaged with this observing technique. It would be possible to image giant planets as close as 5 Au from parent stars at distances from the Sun as great as 30 pc. With this technique, terrestrial- size planets could be detected around nearby stars within the next decade. We briefly discuss the diffraction effects caused by the occulter and a preliminary proof-of-concept design for the UMBRAS spacecraft. Finally, we suggest types of observations other than planet finding that could be performed with UMBRAS.

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