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The planetary system discovered around the young A-type HR8799 provides a unique laboratory to: a) test planet formation theories, b) probe the diversity of system architectures at these separations, and c) perform comparative…
Aims. We present simulations of the perfomances of the future SPHERE IFS instrument designed for imaging extrasolar planets in the near infrared (Y, J, and H bands). Methods. We used the IDL package code for adaptive optics simulation…
We report on a survey devoted for the search of exo-planets around young and nearby stars carried out with NACO at the VLT. The detection limit for 28 among the best available targets vs. the angular separation from the star is presented.…
So far, most of the about 5700 exoplanets have been discovered mainly with radial velocity and transit methods. These techniques are sensitive to planets in close orbits, not being able to probe large star--planet separations. $\mu$-lensing…
[Abridged] Context. Spectral differential imaging (SDI) is part of the observing strategy of current and future high-contrast imaging instruments. It aims to reduce the stellar speckles that prevent the detection of cool planets by using…
We carried out very deep VLT/SPHERE imaging polarimetry of the nearby system Eps Eri based on 38.5 hours of integration time with a 600 - 900 nm broadband filter to search for polarized scattered light from a planet or from circumstellar…
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 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…
Context: High contrast imaging is a powerful technique to detect and characterize planetary companions at large orbital separations from their parent stars. Aims: We aim at studying the limiting magnitude of the VLT/SPHERE Adaptive Optics…
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…
Various structures are visible within Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument (SPHERE) images that are not always straightforward to interpret. In this article we present a review of these features and demonstrate…
Unbiased surveys of large stellar samples are the prime means through which the prevalence of exoplanets can be derived, and crucial constraints to planet formation models can be set. Direct imaging (DI) is ideally positioned to probe the…
The direct imaging of rocky exoplanets is one of the major science goals for upcoming large telescopes. The contrast requirement for imaging such planets is challenging. However, the mid-IR (InfraRed) regime provides the optimum contrast to…
The direct detection of exoplanets with high-contrast instruments can be boosted with high spectral resolution. For integral field spectrographs yielding hyperspectral data, this means that the field of view consists of diffracted starlight…
SPHERE is an instrument designed and built by a consortium of French, German, Italian, Swiss and Dutch institutes in collaboration with ESO. The project is currently in its Phase B. The main goal of SPHERE is to gain at least one order of…
Spectral differential imaging (SDI) is part of the observing strategy of current and on-going high-contrast imaging instruments on ground-based telescopes. Although it improves the star light rejection, SDI attenuates the signature of…
Extrasolar planets observation and characterization by high contrast imaging instruments is set to be a very important subject in observational astronomy. Dedicated instruments are being developed to achieve this goal with very high…
Recent high-contrast imaging surveys, looking for planets in young, nearby systems showed evidence of a small number of giant planets at relatively large separation beyond typically 20 au where those surveys are the most sensitive. Access…
Current and future high contrast imaging instruments aim to detect exoplanets at closer orbital separations, lower masses, and/or older ages than their predecessors. However, continually evolving speckles in the coronagraphic science image…
The second-generation instrument SPHERE, dedicated to high-contrast imaging, will soon be in operation on the European Very Large Telescope. Such an instrument relies on an extreme adaptive optics system coupled with a coronagraph that…