The circumstellar imager: Direct detection of extra-solar planetary systems |
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| Authors: | Christ Ftaclas Andreas L Nonnenmacher Richard J Terrile Steven H Pravdo George D Gatewood Eugene H Levy |
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| Institution: | (1) Hughes Danbury Optical Systems, Inc., Danbury, Connecticut, USA;(2) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA;(3) Allegheny Observatory, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;(4) Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA |
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| Abstract: | The Astrometric Imaging Telescope (AIT) is designed to probe the circumstellar environment by both direct imaging and indirect astrometric measurements. The Circumstellar Imager (CI) is a coronagraphic camera and is the direct imaging component of the AIT. The CI is designed to obtain high-sensitivity images of the circumstellar region. It provides crucial non-inferential information relating to the frequency, origin, and evolution of planetary systems and all forms of circumstellar matter. Such imaging is usually limited by the scattered and diffracted light halos of the star itself, which are greatly suppressed in the CI by mating a novel high-efficiency coronagraph with a phasecompensated optical system. For faint point sources in the circumstellar region, the CI will have a sensitivity in excess of 5 magnitudes fainter than the as-designed Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Laboratory data are shown for the coronagraph, which, in a diffraction-limited environment, is capable of suppressing the stellar diffraction sidelobes by several orders of magnitude without significant sacrifice of field of view. In order to realize the high rejection levels inherent in the coronagraph design, it is necessary to limit scatter in the optical systems, imposing a mid-spatial frequency figure error requirement an order of magnitude smaller than that of the HST. Experimental data directed toward meeting this requirement are also shown.Paper presented at the Conference onPlanetary Systems: Formation, Evolution, and Detection held 7–10 December, 1992 at CalTech, Pasadena, California, U.S.A. |
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