Related papers: High spatial resolution and high contrast optical …
Spiral phase contrast is an important and convenient imaging processing technology in edge detection, and a broader field-of-view (FOV) of imaging is a long-pursuing aim to see more regions of the illumination objects. Compared with…
We present a method for speckle holography that is optimised for crowded fields. Its two key features are an iterativ improvement of the instantaneous Point Spread Functions (PSFs) extracted from each speckle frame and the (optional)…
The technique of simultaneous spectral differential imaging (SSDI) is used to image directly brown dwarfs and exoplanets around nearby stars. An analytical PSF model is first presented with numerical simulations to estimate the PSF noise…
The vector Apodizing Phase Plate (vAPP) is a class of pupil plane coronagraph that enables high-contrast imaging by modifying the Point Spread Function (PSF) to create a dark hole of deep flux suppression adjacent to the PSF core. Here, we…
We report the results of a deep photometric search for planets and brown dwarfs in the nearby young OB Upper Scorpius association. We obtained optical (I) and near-infrared (JKs) images around nine very low-mass stars and brown dwarf member…
We present 1066 speckle measurements of M dwarf multiples observed over 2021-2024, all taken with HRCam on the Southern Astrophysical Research 4.1 m telescope. Among these, 900 observations resolve companions in 212 pairs, with separations…
The characterization of exoplanet atmospheres using direct imaging spectroscopy requires high-contrast over a wide wavelength range. We study a recently proposed focal plane wavefront estimation algorithm that exclusively uses broadband…
We discuss the preliminary results of a survey of young (<300 Myr), close (<50 pc) stars with the Simultaneous Differential Extrasolar Planet Imager (SDI) implemented at the VLT and the MMT. SDI uses a double Wollaston prism and a quad…
We present high-resolution I-band imaging of the core of the globular cluster M15 obtained at the 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope with FastCam, a low readout noise L3CCD based instrument. Short exposure times (30 ms) were used to record…
Direct imaging and spectral characterization of exoplanets using extreme adaptive optics (ExAO) is a key science goal of future extremely large telescopes and space observatories. However, quasi-static wavefront errors will limit the…
We have realised a simple prototype system to perform searches for short timescale optical transients, utilising the novel drift scan imaging technique described by Tingay (2020). We used two coordinated and aligned cameras, with an overlap…
We report on our analysis of HST/NICMOS snapshot high resolution images of 255 stars in 201 systems within ~10 parsecs of the Sun. Photometry was obtained through filters F110W, F180M, F207M, and F222M using NICMOS Camera 2. These filters…
We report the discovery of twenty-one hitherto unknown bright southern ultracool dwarfs with spectral types in the range M7 to L5.5, together with new observations of a further three late M dwarfs previously confirmed. Three more objects…
We discuss the results of a multi-wavelength differential imaging lab experiment with the High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The HCIT combines a Lyot coronagraph with a Xinetics deformable mirror in a…
We performed an intensive photometric monitoring of the PMS stars falling in a field of about 10x10 arc-minutes in the vicinity of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). Photometric data were collected between November 2006 and January 2007 with…
The search for substellar companions around stars with different masses along the main sequence is critical to understand the different processes leading to the formation of low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and planets. In particular, the…
Conventional ground-based optical telescopes, even those with large apertures, primarily observe stars, close binaries, and multiple systems as unresolved point sources through photometric measurements. Spectroscopy can identify multiple…
We have done theoretical calculations and simulations for infrared spectroscopy at the MMT 6.5 m with laser guide star AO, which provides almost full sky coverage. The results show we can expect 40-60% of the photons from a unresolved…
We present the first results obtained at CFHT with the TRIDENT infrared camera, dedicated to the detection of faint companions close to bright nearby stars. Its main feature is the acquisition of three simultaneous images in three…
In recent decades, thousands of substellar companions have been discovered with both indirect and direct methods of detection. In this paper, we focus our attention on substellar companions detected with the direct imaging technique, with…