Related papers: Analytic Modeling of Starshades
The decomposition of an image into a linear combination of digitised basis functions is an everyday task in astronomy. A general method is presented for performing such a decomposition optimally into an arbitrary set of digitised basis…
We derive analytic, closed form, numerically stable solutions for the total flux received from a spherical planet, moon or star during an occultation if the specific intensity map of the body is expressed as a sum of spherical harmonics.…
Pupil mapping is a promising and unconventional new method for high contrast imaging being considered for terrestrial exoplanet searches. It employs two (or more) specially designed aspheric mirrors to create a high-contrast amplitude…
Interstellar dust is still the dominant uncertainty in Astronomy, limiting precision in e.g., cosmological distance estimates and models of how light is re-processed within a galaxy. When a foreground galaxy serendipitously overlaps a more…
Significant advances in the discovery and characterization of the planetary systems of nearby stars can be accomplished with a moderate aperture high performance coronagraphic space mission that could be started in the next decade. Its…
Exoplanet imaging missions utilizing an external occulter (starshade) for starlight suppression require precise alignment between the telescope and starshade, necessitating maintenance of the starshade orbit during observations.…
The serendipitous detection of stellar occultations by Outer Solar System objects is a powerful method for ascertaining the small end ($r \lesssim 15$ km) of the size distribution of Kuiper Belt Objects and may potentially allow the…
The physical characterization of exoplanets will require to take spectra at several orbital positions. For that purpose, a direct imaging capability is necessary. Direct imaging requires an efficient stellar suppression mechanism,…
Occultations of stars by asteroids have been observed since 1961, increasing from a very small number to now over 500 annually. We have created and regularly maintain a growing data-set of more than 5,000 observed asteroidal occultations.…
It is developed a very complex system (hardware/software) to detect luminosity variations connected with the discovery of new planets outside the Solar System. Traditional imaging approaches are very demanding in terms of computing time;…
Batygin and Brown (2016) have suggested the existence of a new Solar System planet supposed to be responsible for the perturbation of eccentric orbits of small outer bodies. The main challenge is now to detect and characterize this putative…
Two decades ago, astronomers began detecting planets orbiting stars other than our Sun, so-called exoplanets. Since that time, the rate of detections and the sensitivity to ever-smaller planets has improved dramatically with several…
Many stars -- if they could be imaged with enough angular resolution -- would exhibit features expected from theory but not possible to extract from spectra. We may group these by increasing complexity as follows. First, smooth variations…
Pupil mapping is a promising and unconventional new method for high contrast imaging being considered for terrestrial exoplanet searches. It employs two (or more) specially designed aspheric mirrors to create a high-contrast amplitude…
We summarize the current best polychromatic (10 to 20 % bandwidth) contrast performance demonstrated in the laboratory by different starlight suppression approaches and systems designed to directly characterize exoplanets around nearby…
Precise and, if possible, accurate characterization of exoplanets cannot be dissociated from the characterization of their host stars. In this chapter we discuss different methods and techniques used to derive fundamental properties and…
Recent ground and space-based observations show that stars with multiple planets are common in the galaxy. Most of these observational methods are biased toward detecting large planets near to their host stars. Because of these…
Since the discovery of the first exoplanets more than 20 years ago, there has been an increasing need for photometric and spectroscopic models to characterize these systems. While imaging has been used extensively for Solar System bodies…
Angular differential imaging provides a novel way of probing the high contrast of our universe. Until now, its applications have been primarily localized to searching for exoplanets around nearby stars. This work presents a suite of…
We are still in the early days of exoplanet discovery. Astronomers are beginning to model the atmospheres and interiors of exoplanets and have developed a deeper understanding of processes of planet formation and evolution. However, we have…