Related papers: SPHERE on-sky performance compared with budget pre…

Spectral characterization of young, giant exoplanets detected by direct imaging is one of the tasks of the new generation of high-contrast imagers. For this purpose, the VLT/SPHERE instrument includes a unique long-slit spectroscopy (LSS)…

We describe the Zurich Imaging Polarimeter (ZIMPOL), the visual focal plane subsystem of the SPHERE "VLT planet finder", which pushes the limits of current AO systems to shorter wavelengths, higher spatial resolution, and much improved…

The ability to accurately predict the contrast achieved from high contrast imagers is important for efficient scheduling and quality control measures in modern observatories. We aim to consistently predict and measure the raw contrast…

Until now, just a few extrasolar planets (~30 out of 860) have been found through the direct imaging method. This number should greatly improve when the next generation of High Contrast Instruments like Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) at Gemini…

Context. Direct imaging of exoplanets takes advantage of state-of-the-art adaptive optics (AO) systems, coronagraphy, and post-processing techniques. Coronagraphs attenuate starlight to mitigate the unfavorable flux ratio between an…

We aim at searching for exoplanets on the whole ESO/VLT-SPHERE archive with improved and unsupervised data analysis algorithm that could allow to detect massive giant planets at 5 au. To prepare, test and optimize our approach, we gathered…

Spatially resolving the immediate surroundings of young stars is a key challenge for the planet formation community. SPHERE on the VLT represents an important step forward by increasing the opportunities offered by optical or near-infrared…

We present the current results of the astrometric characterization of the VLT planet finder SPHERE over 2 years of on-sky operations. We first describe the criteria for the selection of the astrometric fields used for calibrating the…

Imaging exoplanetary systems is essential to characterizing exoplanetary systems and to studying planet-disk interactions to understand planet formation. Such imaging in the visible and near-infrared is challenging because these objects are…

Large surveys with new-generation high-contrast imaging instruments are needed to derive the frequency and properties of exoplanet populations with separations from $\sim$5 to 300 AU. A careful assessment of the stellar properties is…

The primary goal of this thesis was the correction of Non-Common-Path-Aberrations in the SPHERE instrument for helping it meeting its contrast requirements. SPHERE's purpose is the search and characterization of giant exo-planets around…

SPHERE, operating at the VLT since 2014, is currently one of the high-contrast instruments with a higher performance. Its adaptive optics system, known as SAXO, will be upgraded to SAXO+, which features the addition of a second stage of…

SAXO+ is a planned enhancement of the existing SAXO, the VLT/ SPHERE adaptive optics system, deployed on ESO's Very Large Telescope. This upgrade is designed to significantly enhance the instrument's capacity to detect and analyze young…

Circumstellar environments are now routinely observed by dedicated high-contrast imagers on large, ground-based observatories. These facilities combine extreme adaptive optics and coronagraphy to achieve unprecedented sensitivities for…

We present observations with the planet finder SPHERE of a selected sample of the most promising radial velocity (RV) companions for high-contrast imaging. Using a Monte Carlo simulation to explore all the possible inclinations of the orbit…

The objective of the SPHERE Data Center is to optimize the scientific return of SPHERE at the VLT, by providing optimized reduction procedures, services to users and publicly available reduced data. This paper describes our motivation, the…

During the past decade, state-of-the-art planet-finder instruments like SPHERE@VLT, coupling coronagraphic devices and extreme adaptive optics systems, unveiled, thanks to large surveys, around 20 planetary mass companions at semi-major…

The SPEAR (or 'FIMS') instrumentation has been used to conduct the first large-scale spectral mapping of diffuse cosmic far ultraviolet (FUV, 900-1750 AA) emission, including important diagnostics of interstellar hot (10^4 K - 10^6 K) and…

This year, a second generation of coronagraphs dedicated to high-contrast direct imaging of exoplanets is starting operations. Among them, SPHERE, installed at the focus of the UT3 Very Large Telescope, reaches unprecedented contrast ratios…

While a large fraction of the stars are in multiple systems, our understanding of the processes leading to the formation of these systems is still inadequate. Given the large theoretical uncertainties, observation plays a basic role. Here…