Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Nov 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009sf2a.conf..317d&link_type=abstract
SF2A-2009: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, held 29 June - 4 July 2009 in
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
The Fourier-Kelvin Stellar Interferometer (FKSI) is a mission concept for a nulling interferometer for the near-to-mid-infrared spectral region. FKSI is conceived as a mid-sized strategic or Probe class mission. FKSI has been endorsed by the Exoplanet Community Forum 2008 as such a mission and has been costed to be within the expected budget. The current design of FKSI is a two-element nulling interferometer. The two telescopes, separated by 12.5m, are precisely pointed (by small steering mirrors) on the target star. The two path lengths are accurately controlled to within a few nanometers to be precisely the same. A phase shifter/beam combiner (via Mach-Zender interferometer) produces an output beam consisting of the nulled sum of the planet's light and the star's light. When properly oriented, the starlight is nulled by a factor of 10^{-4}, and the planet light is undimmed. Accurate modeling of the signal is used to subtract this residual starlight, permitting the detection of planets much fainter than the host star. The current version of FKSI with 0.5 m apertures and waveband 3-8 μm has the following main capabilities: (1) detect exozodiacal emission levels to that of our own solar system (1 Solar System Zodi) around nearby F, G, and K, stars; (2) characterize spectroscopically the atmospheres of a large number of known non-transiting planets; (3) survey and characterize nearby stars for planets down to 2 Earth-radii from just inside the habitable zone and inward. An enhanced version of FKSI with 1-m apertures separated by 20-m and cooled to 40 K, with science waveband 5-15 μm, allows for the detection and characterization of 2 Earth-radius and smaller super-Earths in the habitable zone around nearby stars.
Augereau J.-Ch.
Barry Richard K.
Beust Hervé
Bonfils Xavier
Borde' Pascal
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