2004•Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIERequires access
The Lyot project: toward exoplanet imaging and spectroscopy
Rebecca Oppenheimer, Andrew Digby, Laura Newburgh, Douglas Brenner, Michael M. Shara, Jacob L. Mey, Charles W. Mandeville, Russell B. Makidon, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Rémi Soummer, James R. Graham, Paul Kalas, Marshall D. Perrin, Lewis C. Roberts, J. R. Kuhn, Kathryn Whitman, James P. Lloyd
Open publisher page 38 citations
Abstract
Among the adaptive optics systems available to astronomers, the US Air Force Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) is unique because it delivers very high order wave front correction. The Lyot Project includes the construction and installation of the world’s first diffraction-limited, optimized coronagraph that exploits the full astronomical potential of AEOS and represents a critical step toward the long-term goal of directly imaging and studying extrasolar planets (a.k.a. “exoplanets”). We provide an update on the Project, whose coronagraph saw first light in March 2004. The coronagraph is operating at least as well as predicted by simulations, and a survey of nearby stars has begun.