Computer Science – Performance
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...21113518g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #135.18; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.975
Computer Science
Performance
Scientific paper
We describe the Exoplanetary Circumstellar Environment and Disk Explorer (EXCEDE) SMEX mission to directly image starlight-scattering circumstellar material in the planet-forming regions of stars exhibiting thermal infrared emission above their stellar photospheric levels (a signpost of planetary systems in formation). EXCEDE will provide contrast-limited scattered-light detection sensitivities 100 to 1000 times more sensitive than the HST and JWST coronagraphs at a smaller inner working angle, enabling the exploration and characterization of exoplanetary circumstellar disk systems in currently inaccessible observational domains. Utilizing a laboratory-demonstrated high-performance Phase Induced Amplitude Apodized Coronagraph (PIAA-C), integrated with a small (0.5 meter diameter) unobscured aperture visible-light telescope, EXCEDE will provide unrivaled disk-to-star imaging contrast ratios of < 1:10,000,000 at a 1 lambda/d inner working angle of 0.2" with 200 mas spatial resolution at 0.4 microns. Such unprecedented spatially-resolved circumstellar disk images will enable determinations of disk characteristics (mass, geometry, surface brightness, grain properties) for stars over a wide range of stellar mass and age, providing a unique and comprehensive dataset to understand the formation and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems. Concomitantly, EXCEDE will provide unparalleled imagery of those rare debris disks previously resolved with inferior capabilities. These "Rosetta stones" are the basis of our current understanding of planetary disk systems and EXCEDE/PIAA-C observations will overcome current limitations that thus-far have resulted in significant model degeneracies. EXCEDE will also directly image and characterize extrasolar giant planets with orbital distances as small as 1.5 AU and disk sub-structures influenced by co-orbiting planets - for the first time within the terrestrial planet zone (< 5 AU) around the nearest targets. EXCEDE is a science-driven technology pathfinder and demonstrator for subsequent planet-finding and characterization missions that will also provide future missions (e.g., JWST/MIRI & TPF-C) well-honed targets sets for follow-on and multi-wavelength investigations.
Greene Thomas P.
Mission Team
Schneider Gerardo
Science EXCEDE
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