By exploiting the high strehl ratio PSF (point spread function) provided by the large binocular telescope (LBT), a high contrast visual camera working in the range 650-700 nm can deliver impressive results with the help of a simple coronagraph. In the framework of a feasibility study of such instrument, numerical simulations have been conducted to assess its performances in terms of contrast enhancement in real seeing conditions. Both simulated and recorded time series of adaptive optics residual aberrations are in fact used to estimate the contrast enhancement achieved with this imager in different seeing conditions and with different occulting masks. The results obtained are extremely promising and provide useful information for the detection of reflected light of Jupiter-like planets orbiting nearby stars in the range of 5÷10 pc.

Date Published: 28 July 2014
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9147, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 91478F (28 July 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2056487

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9147:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V
Suzanne K. Ramsay; Ian S. McLean; Hideki Takami, Editor(s)