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We present first results from a new exoplanet direct imaging survey being carried out with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics project coupled with the CHARIS integral field spectrograph. Our survey targeting stars showing evidence for a statistically significant astrometric acceleration from the Hipparcos and Gaia satellites implying the existence of substellar or planetary companions at sub-arcsecond separations.. JHK low-resolution spectra from CHARIS constrain newly-discovered companion spectral types, temperatures, and gravities. Relative astrometry of companions from SCExAO/CHARIS and absolute astrometry of the star from Hipparcos and Gaia together yield direct dynamical mass constraints, circumventing usual challenges in inferring the masses of imaged planets from luminosity evolution models. Even in its infancy, our survey has already yielded multiple discoveries, including at least one likely jovian planet at a moderate orbital separation and multiple other substellar companions. We describe how our small nascent survey is yielding a far higher detection rate than large blind surveys from GPI and SPHERE and the path forward for imaging and characterizing planets at lower masses and smaller orbital separations than previously possible.

Measuring the astrometric singal of an exoplanet is an unambiguous method for determining its mass. However, Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars only cause 0.3 uas astrometric signals, which is too small for current instruments to detect. To advance these instruments, an astrometry testbed was created. It can simulate and measure equivalent signals with the use of an illuminated pinhole array and a flexurized pinhole that is translatable to 10 pm resolution. Optical distortions are calibrated with the use of a diffractive pupil. This paper presents the requirements, design, and implementation of the wide-field astrometry testbed’s light source.

Accurate measurement of exoplanetary masses is a critical step in addressing key aspects of NASA’s science vision. Astrometry can detect and measure masses of planets orbiting the target star. However, the signal for earth-analogs is in the sub-microarcsecond regime, well beyond our instrumentation. In this paper, we study part of an astrometry error budget for the HabEx Workhorse Camera and we propose a calibration approach to reach earth-analog sensitivity.

Detecting exoplanets and measuring their masses is a priority for astrophysics. Stellar astrometry is capable of detecting and unequivocally measure exoplanet masses, solving the system inclination ambiguity that constrains the accuracy of radial velocity techniques. The astrometric signal of an Earth-like planet around nearby stars is around ∼ 1 micro-arcsecond (μas), while current instrumentation (Hubble, GAIA) reaches 25 μas at best. After photon noise, the main limiting factor to measure such astrometric signals is related to the optical distortions that arise from small deformations of the optical system. A novel technique, called diffractive pupil, allows to obtain distortion-calibrated astrometry vectors from the image. Currently, analytical methods are being used to extract the distortion map from the diffractive features. However, different sources of noise limit the accuracy of the algorithm. In this paper, we test the ability of machine learning to detect telescope pointing errors and astrometry signals injected in simulated images, as a first step towards distortion calibration correction using machine learning. Our image simulator generates a star field modified by telescope pointing errors, optical distortion, and common noise sources such as photon noise, flat field, read out, and dark current. We evaluate the performance of legacy analytical algorithms for astrometry and compare it with the results of machine learning runs. We find that this type of algorithms show better results than the analytical approach by two orders of magnitude when detecting astrometric signals in images with telescope pointing error perturbations, achieving a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of ∼ 1.7 × 10−6 px for the predicted target star translations in comparison with the ∼ 5 × 10−4 px MAE obtained by the traditional approach.

Increasing demand of satellites usage, our community raises awareness of space debris, which could collide with our space inventions. To avoid an unnecessary cost, many engineers resolve this issue with a ground-based observation, which is one of the inexpensive ways of tracked celestial bodies in the Earth vicinity. To use a plain optical telescope without laser ranging to determine orbital parameters by using angles only through Gauss method, and with appropriate calibrating a telescope mounting on a ground station. In this paper, we propose three main parts by first, presenting a concept of calibrating technique on how to obtain observation angle pair when an object is not at the center of image sensor. Second, we optimize the Gauss method’s execution time. Third, we validate that our generated Two-Line Element can be used to track celestial bodies. In our experiment, an 0.7-meter optical telescope equips with image sensor which is located at National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, Chiang-Mai, Thailand to project stars on image sensor. The image is mapped to stars database to correct the magnification, shear, and rotation of the image sensor respective to the Cartesian coordinates as a function of astrometry engineering. The result of the method is a plate constant. It is used to correct positions of an interesting celestial body tracked. In this second main part, we investigate the execution time with the same accuracy to other solver of the Gauss method in the famous eight order polynomial. The proposed solver is Laguerre method to find a root finding with convergence rate of cubic. Finally, Our result is proved to be reliable to use as a Two-Line Element update in our telescope system.

The isopistonic angle is the angle over which the atmospheric piston can be considered constant. It is an important parameter for ground based optical interferometry, particularly in the context of phasing using guide stars. This angle is analogous to the isoplanatic angle, which is the angle over which an adaptive optics correction may be considered valid for a single aperture. While the isopistonic angle is well understood theoretically, there have been relatively few measurements of it as compared to the isoplanatic angle. We have used masked aperture interferometry on binary stars of various angular separations at the USNO Flagstaff astrometry telescope to measure the isopistonic angle. We report on our measurement methodology, data processing, and experimental results.

Accurate measurement of exoplanetary masses is a critical step in addressing key aspects of NASA's science vision. Measuring masses of Earth-analogs around FGK stars out to 10 pc requires sub-microarcsecond astrometric accuracy, which is not within the capabilities of current instrumentation. Thus, new technology will be required to build an astrometric instrument capable of achieving such performance. This will immediately empower the possibility for dedicated astrometric missions, and perhaps most enticing, it will enable astrometric observing modes to be added (with relatively low cost and impact) to any mission boasting a sufficiently stable direct imaging platform. In this paper, we provide an overview of the scientific goals and technology utilized on two of NASA's astrometry testbeds dedicated to advancing stellar astrometry for exoplanet detection. The first one, located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is dedicated to imaging stellar astrometry on sparse fields. The goal of this testbed is to mature the Diffractive Pupil (DP) technology to TRL-5, demonstrating high-fidelity performance in a relevant environment. This testbed operates in a vacuum tank at the High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) at JPL. The second testbed, located at NASA Ames Research Center, is dedicated to advancing narrow angle relative astrometry to detect exoplanets around nearby binary stars. The key technology in this testbed is a DP specially designed to measure the angle between two sources on the sky. This testbed operates in air and aims to bring this technology to TRL-4.

The GRAVITY instrument has enabled major steps forward in infrared interferometry, by phase-referenced imaging at milli-arcsecond resolution, with a sensitivity increase by factor thousands, 30-100 micro-arcsecond astrometry, and few micro-arcsecond differential spectro-astrometry. We give an overview of the technology behind GRAVITY and highlight the game-changing results from the first three years of operation. Our presentation takes us from nearby exoplanets all the way to distant quasars, with special focus on the Galactic Center, the first precision tests of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity around massive black holes, and tests of the massive black hole paradigm on scales of 3-6 Schwarzschild radii.

Optical and infrared interferometry from the ground has had major successes but will soon meet fundamental limitations. Adaptive optics and creative fringe tracking solutions has the potential to greatly increase the reach of interferometry from the ground, but the factor of 107 in thermal infrared background means that space interferometry with small telescopes is a more cost-effective solution at long wavelengths. Additionally, important spectral windows for high angular resolution astrophysics are only open from space. I will briefly outline the limitations of interferometry from the ground, and make the case for space. In addition to reviewing the historical cases of low fringe visibility (complex) imaging, precision astrometry, high contrast mid-infrared interferometry and far infrared interferometry, I will make the case for wavelength-differential and polarimetric interferometry at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths. A major long baseline interferometry mission will require higher technological readiness levels of key technologies, including interspacecraft metrology, fringe tracking in a space environment and high contrast nulling. For some mission concepts, relatively little new subsystem development is required and tolerances are surprisingly loose. I will argue that in order to fast-track the inevitability of space interferometry, some key subsystem development, whole mission simulation and a pathfinder mission are all required in the near future.

The GRAVITY instrument has revolutionized optical/IR interferometry: fringe-tracking and phase-referencing allow for 30 micro-arcsecond astrometry in a dual beam mode, and for spectro-differential astrometry better than 10 micro-arcseconds. The control of systematic effects is essential to fully exploit this technological advancement. Among those systematics are static phase aberrations, introduced along the instrument's optical path, which in particular affect the inferred separation of two unresolved objects within the same FOV. Here, we present how the aberrations can be measured, characterized by low-order Zernike polynomials and, most importantly, how their impact on the astrometry is corrected. The resulting astrometry corrections are verified with calibration observations of a binary before we discuss how they affect GRAVITY's measurement of the galactic center distance.

"We present initial results from the Multi-conjugate Adaptive-optics Visible Imager-Spectrograph Image Simulator (MAVISIM) to explore the astrometric capabilities of the next generation instrument MAVIS. A core scientific and operational requirement of MAVIS will be to achieve highly accurate differential astrometry, with accuracies on the order that of the extremely large telescopes. To better understand the impact of known and anticipated astrometric error terms, we have created an initial astrometric budget which we present here to motivate the creation of MAVISIM. In this first version of MAVISIM we include three major astrometric error sources; point spread function (PSF) field variability due to high order aberrations, PSF degradation and field variability due to tip-tilt residual error, and field distortions due to non-common path aberrations in the AO module. An overview of MAVISIM is provided along with initial results from a study using MAVISIM to simulate an image of a Milky Way-like globular cluster. Astrometric accuracies are extracted using PSF-fitting photometry with encouraging results that suggest MAVIS will deliver accuracies of 150µas down to faint magnitudes."

The 50-meter Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) operating on the Sierra Negra in Mexico is the largest single- dish millimeter-wave telescope in the world. Although designed to work in the 3 mm and 1 mm bands, there is significant potential for LMT observations at centimeter wavelengths. Here, we summarize the scientific case and operational arguments for a K-band receiver system on the LMT, describe several of the unique technical challenges that the proposed installation would entail, and mention some possible solutions to these challenges.

Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) have precision requirements of a few tens of micro-arcsec for differential astrometry science cases. Each ELT project has its own astrometric error budget taking into consideration the specific design parameters of the observatory. A version of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) astrometry error budget has previously been established and the details were presented at SPIE 2016.1 In this paper, we briefly revisit this error budget analysis. The main focus of this paper is a new python-based astrometry calculator which was developed for a more user-friendly application of the error budget. It facilitates direct evaluation of and comparison between different scenarios such as absolute vs differential astrometry; dense vs spare observation fields; science fields with and without reference objects, etc. The details of the astrometry calculator and its general functions are described. A few example science sensitivity studies are presented and the procedure of estimating astrometric errors for other observatories is outlined.

Although discovery technologies are now populating exoplanet catalogs into the thousands, contemporary astronomy is poorly equipped to find the most compelling exoplanetary real-estate: earth-analog systems within our immediate solar neighbourhood. The TOLIMAN space telescope program aims to develop low-cost, agile mission concepts dedicated to astrometric detection of exoplanets within 10PC, and in particularly targeting the Alpha Cen system. It accomplishes this by deploying an innovative optical and signal encoding architecture that targets the most promising technique for this critical stellar sample: high precision astrometric monitoring. Two pathfinder missions, the first a cubesat slated for 2021 launch, and the second a 10cm space telescope under development at the University of Sydney. We will present an overview of the family of missions and the novel technologies underlying the signal detection strategy.

MCAO is essential to perform astrometry with the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Differently from the 8m class telescopes, the ELT will be a fully adaptive telescope, and a significant portion of the Adaptive Optics (AO) dynamic range will be absorbed by the correction and stabilization of the telescope aberrations and instabilities. Of particular interest for the ground-based astrometry is the use of Multi-Conjugated AO systems that allow to stabilize the low order field distortions against the transient plate scale instabilities of different origin occurring at the telescope and in the instrument. The instruments have several optical elements relatively far away from the pupil that can potentially challenge the astrometric precision of the observations with their residual mid-spatial frequencies errors. Using a combined simulation of ray tracing and AO numerical codes we assess the impact of these systematic errors at different field of view scales and fitting scenarios. The distortions have been assessed at different sky Position Angles (PA) and indicate that over large field of views only small PA ranges (±1°-3°) are accessible with astrometric residuals 50 µas. A full compliance, at any PA is achievable for 2 arcsec2 FoV patches already with a 3rd order polynomial. The natural partition of the optical system in three segments, ELT-MAORY-MICADO, respectively telescope, MCAO module and instrument, resembles also a splitting of the astrometric problem in the three subsystems that are characterized by different distortion amplitudes and calibration strategies. The result is a family portrait of the different optical segments with their prescription, dynamic motions, conjugation height and AO correctability, leading to trace their role in the bigger puzzle of the 50 μas astrometric endeavor.

In the search for exoplanets, one of the most sought-after goals from the outset has been to survey nearby systems for Earth-mass planets in their habitable zones. Because of their relatively low mass and size, and their separation from their host stars, these most prized targets have been elusive so far. High precision astrometry is an indirect method that is complementary in its reach to those of the Doppler and photometric transit methods. The Micro-arcsecond Astrometry Small Satellite (MASS), is a concept astrometric mission utilizing a small space telescope and ultra-precise focal plane and field distortion calibration. In one version, recently proposed as a NASA mission of opportunity, MASS's performance was evaluated with a 35 cm primary mirror and a 150 Mpix scientific CMOS sensor, and was estimated to achieve a single-look accuracy of 6 µas. Even with this modest telescope, MASS would have the sensitivity needed to find a 1 Earth-mass planet at 1 AU orbit (scaled to solar luminosity) around the ~5 nearest FGK stars and 2 Earth-mass planets around an additional ~15 nearest stars. MASS would be able not only to measure masses of these exo-Earths but also characterize their orbits for follow- on direct detection missions such as HabEx or LUVOIR. In this presentation we describe the proposed mission, the precision astrometric technique, and the results from testbed demonstration of the technique.

Due to the advancement of nano-satellite technology, CubeSats and fleets of CubeSats can form an alternative to high-cost large-size satellite missions with the advantage of extended spatial coverage. One of these initiatives is the Cubesats Applied for MEasuring and LOcalising Transients (CAMELOT) mission concept, aimed at detecting and localizing gamma-ray bursts with an efficiency and accuracy comparable to large gamma-ray space observatories. While precise attitude control is not necessary for such a mission, attitude determination is an important issue in the interpretation of gamma-scintillator detector data as well as for telemetry. The employment of star trackers is not always a viable option for such small satellites, hence another alternative is necessary. In this correspondence we present a new method, utilizing thermal imaging sensors to provide simultaneous measurement of the attitude of the Sun and the horizon by employing a homogeneous array of such detectors and show that with the proposed setup the location of an infrared point source can be determined with an accuracy of 400. We also introduce our ongoing work on a simulation model aimed at testing the applicability of our attitude determination algorithm. The first part of the simulation determines the orbit and rotation of a satellite with arbitrary initial conditions while its second part will do the attitude determination based on a multiplicative extended Kalman filter..

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high-contrast adaptive optics instrument designed to detect and characterize substellar companions and circumstellar debris disks around nearby young stars using infrared integral field spectroscopy and polarimetry. GPI has been in routine operations at Gemini South for the past six years. Because precise astrometry and photometry of exoplanets is critical to GPI's science, we undertook extensive efforts both in-lab and on-sky to refine the astrometric and photometric calibration of the instrument. We describe revisions to the GPI Data Reduction Pipeline (DRP) that account for these revised calibrations, and that fix several issues identified over the previous six years, including some subtle issues affecting astrometric calibrations caused by a drift of the instrument’s clock. These calibrations are critical for the interpretation of observations obtained with GPI, and for a comparison with measurements from other high-contrast imaging instruments.

The study of supermassive black hole (SMBH) is one of the most confusing astronomical topics. Howerver, little is known about the co-evolution of SMBH and galaxies, and also the formation process of SMBH. SMBH is considered to be a celestial body on the cosmic scale. As a probe, SMBH plays an irreplaceable key role in the study of the structure and evolution of the universe. The above-mentioned scientific researches requires 10 micro arcsecond astrometry precision. Based on the differential delay interferometry, we plan to develop a prototype long baseline optical interferometry facility to achieve high precicsion astrometry. The planned prototype facility includes three 500mm siderostats, and the detection waveband covers both near infrared and short wave infrared (J, H). The astrometry precision of the prototype facility is expected to be at the level of ten micro arcseconds.

The Large Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) is a multi-wavelength observatory commissioned by NASA as one of four large mission concept studies for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. Two concepts are under study which bound a range of cost, risk, and scientific return: an 8-meter diameter unobscured segmented aperture primary mirror and a 15-meter segmented aperture primary mirror. Each concept carries with it an accompanying suite of instruments. The Extreme Coronagraph for Living Planetary Systems (ECLIPS) is a near-ultraviolet (NUV) / optical / near-infrared (NIR) coronagraph; the LUVOIR Ultraviolet Multi-object Spectrograph (LUMOS) provides multi-object imaging spectroscopy in the 100-400 nanometer ultraviolet (UV) range; and the High Definition Imager (HDI) is a wide field-of-view near-UV / optical / near-IR camera that can also perform astrometry. The 15-meter concept also contains an additional instrument, Pollux, which is a high-resolution UV spectro-polarimeter. While the observatory is nominally at a 270 Kelvin operational temperature, the requirements of imaging in both IR and UV require separate detectors operating at different temperature regimes, each with stringent thermal stability requirements. The change in observatory size requires two distinct thermal designs per instrument. In this current work, the thermal architecture is presented for each instrument suite. We describe here the efforts made to achieve the target operational temperatures and stabilities with passive thermal control methods. Additional discussion will focus on how these instrument thermal designs impact the overall system-level architecture of the observatory and indicate the thermal challenges for hardware implementation.

We review the direct and indirect methods used for the detection of a planet outside our solar system. We compare the popular methods, emphasizing their attractiveness and exceptional features. The principal indirect planetdetection techniques are gravitational micro-lensing, transit intensity fluctuations, and spectroscopic radial velocity. Most of the research on the exo-solar planet detection within the last 20 years has been performed in conjunction with the star surveys. The direct methods include imaging, image reconstruction, astrometry, interferometry, nulling interferometry, rotational shearing interferometry, phase closure, and coronagraphy. Many of the imaging techniques involve the ground telescopes that are breaking the conventional rules of resolution, and ground-based interferometers. We observe that planet detection leads to novel concepts in the imaging science.

We propose an innovative low-cost mission capable of detecting potentially habitable planets around a sample of solartype stars near the sun. The finding of rocky planets in temperate orbits among our immediate stellar neighbors will be a signature discovery. Our mission will deliver relative measurements of stellar position and motion at sub-micro arcsecond precision. These data, in turn, will reveal the presence of orbiting exoplanets. For the case of our primary targets Alpha Centauri A and B, objects below one Earth mass will be accessible when the end-of-mission astrometric precision requirement of 0.4 micro arcsecond is achieved. TOLIMAN will directly reveal the presence of sub-earth mass planets and constrain it orbit and mass This paper describes the optical and mechanical architecture of the mission, and first order instrument design. We also explain the instrument stability requirements imposed by the diffractive pupil post-processing calibration limitations. Our design baseline is a stable two-mirror telescope that images the field directly on CCD camera minimizing the number of reflections and optical components.

Space missions designed for high precision photometric monitoring of stars often under-sample the point-spread function, with much of the light landing within a single pixel. Missions like MOST, Kepler, BRITE, and TESS, do this to avoid uncertainties due to pixel-to-pixel response nonuniformity. This approach has worked remarkably well. However, individual pixels also exhibit response nonuniformity. Typically, pixels are most sensitive near their centers and less sensitive near the edges, with a difference in response of as much as 50%. The exact shape of this fall-off, and its dependence on the wavelength of light, is the intra-pixel response function (IPRF). A direct measurement of the IPRF can be used to improve the photometric uncertainties, leading to improved photometry and astrometry of under-sampled systems. Using the spot-scan technique, we measured the IPRF of a flight spare e2v CCD90 imaging sensor, which is used in the Kepler focal plane. Our spot scanner generates spots with a full-width at half-maximum of .5 microns across the range of 400 nm - 900 nm. We find that Kepler's CCD shows similar IPRF behavior to other back-illuminated devices, with a decrease in responsivity near the edges of a pixel by ~50%. The IPRF also depends on wavelength, exhibiting a large amount of diffusion at shorter wavelengths and becoming much more defined by the gate structure in the near-IR. This method can also be used to measure the IPRF of the CCDs used for TESS, which borrows much from the Kepler mission.

ESA’s astrometry mission Gaia was launched in 2013 to establish the most accurate and complete map of the Milky Way by measuring the distance, position, proper motion, and astrophysical characteristics of two billion stars. It contains the largest focal plane ever flown in space comprising 106 CCDs. To downlink to Earth only useful data, an on-board algorithm was designed to discriminate between e.g. stars and cosmics- ionizing tracks left by energetic particles. A cosmic ray event generation simulator was developed to train and optimize this on-board source detection algorithm. We can now validate this model against Gaia data.

The HabEx (Habitable Exoplanet) concept study is defining a future space telescope with the primary mission of detecting and characterizing planetary systems around nearby stars. The telescope baseline design includes a high-contrast coronagraph and a starshade to enable the direct optical detection of exoplanets as close as 70 mas to their star. In addition to the study of exoplanets, HabEx carries two dedicated instruments for general astrophysics. The first instrument is a camera enabling imaging on a 3 arc minute field of view in two bands stretching from the UV at 150 nm to the near infrared at 1800 nm. The same instrument can also be operated as a multi-object spectrograph, with resolution of 2000. The second instrument is a high-resolution UV spectrograph operating from 300 nm down to 115 nm with up to 60,0000 resolution. HabEx would provide the highest resolution UV/optical images ever obtained. Diffraction limited at 0.4 μm, it would outperform all current and approved facilities, including the 30 m class ground-based extremely large telescopes (ELTs), which will achieve ~0.01 arcsecond resolution at near-infrared (IR) wavelengths with adaptive optics, but will be seeing-limited at optical wavelengths. HabEx would observe wavelengths inaccessible from the ground, including the UV and in optical/near-IR atmospheric absorption bands. Operating at L2, far above the Earth’s atmosphere and free from the large thermal swings inherent to HST’s low-Earth orbit, HabEx would provide an ultra-stable platform that will enable science ranging from precision astrometry to the most sensitive weak lensing maps ever obtained. Here we discuss the design concepts of the general astrophysics optical instruments for the proposed observatory.

NIRSpec is the flagship spectrograph for JWST in the 0.6 to 5.3 micron wavelength range. Observation with the Micro- Shutter Assembly (MSA) for multiobject spectroscopy (MOS) will use configurable shutters to form spectral slits and provide the first space-based MOS capabilities. The NIRSpec Micro-shutter Assembly Target Acquisition (MSATA) is an autonomous target acquisition scheme to acquire and position targets accurately with respect to the spectral slits. The method uses measured centroid positions of reference stars with accurately known relative positions across the target field for this process. MSATA performs not only linear offsets, but any required telescope orient (roll) correction to remove blind-pointing alignment error. The MSATA procedure can be used for most NIRSpec science and will be a prerequisite for most NIRSpec MOS mode observations. Astrometry relating the positions of science targets and candidate reference stars with a relative accuracy of 5 - 10 mas will be needed to deliver the best calibration accuracy of science sources. With this level of planning accuracy, the MSATA procedure should yield a final total pointing accuracy for NIRSpec MOS targets of

The new VLTI/GRAVITY instrument is a four telescope beam combiner installed at the VLT Interferometer. The principal novelty of this instrument is the availability of a dual field mode enabling narrow-angle relative astrometry at micro-arcsecond accuracy between two objects separated by several arcseconds. The fringe tracker (FT) stabilizes the interference fringes at up to 1 kHz frequency, allowing for long exposures with the science combiner (SC) as well as phase referenced imaging and differential astrometry (in dual field mode). The FT and SC beam combiners are integrated optics (IO) components, whose 24 outputs are (optionally) polarization-split and spectrally dispersed. The processing of the photometric signals from the IO components is based on the pixel-to-visibility matrix (P2VM) formalism, that translates them into complex visibilities. The retrieval of the relative phase of the two objects subsequently relies on the combination of the phases measured from the FT, SC and the laser metrology. We will present the adopted algorithms, and an overview of the structure of the developed software. The calibration of the wavelength scales of the FT and SC at the required accuracy presents specific difficulties that we will briefly discuss. Examples of the reduction of on-sky data obtained during the commissioning will also be presented.

The near-infrared GRAVITY instrument has become a fully operational spectro-imager, while expanding its capability to support astrometry of the key Galactic Centre science. The mid-infrared MATISSE instrument has just arrived on Paranal and is starting its commissioning phase. NAOMI, the new adaptive optics for the Auxiliary Telescopes, is about to leave Europe for an installation in the fall of 2018. Meanwhile, the interferometer infrastructure has continuously improved in performance, in term of transmission and vibrations, when used with both the Unit Telescopes and Auxiliary Telescopes. These are the highlights of the last two years of the VLTI 2nd generation upgrade started in 2015.

The preferred programming languages and operating systems used in writing and running astrometric software have changed over time. The Python language is now well supported by the scientific community which provides open-source standard libraries for astronomical calculation including Astropy, 1 SciPy 2 and NumPy. 3 We surveyed available open source astrometric libraries and compare ICRS coordinate to observation transforms using recent releases of C source code and Python wrappers from the IAU Standard of Fundamental Astronomy 4 (SOFA), against those using the US Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Software 5 (NOVAS). The selection of an underlying operating system with long term support is also an important aspect of maintaining a working telescope control system. The installation and operation of the libraries under both Linux Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) and Windows 10 are explored.

We describe our ongoing efforts to model the field distortions of the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) during the cryogenic portion of the Spitzer Space Telescope’s operations. We have compared over two million measured source positions in ~35,000 IRAC images with their positions in Gaia Data Release 1. Fitting 3 rd and 5 th order polynomials to the measured offsets, we find systematic uncertainties in IRAC-measured positions that are in the 50-60 milliarcsecond range for the 3.6 micron array, and 120-150 milliarcsecond range for the 4.5 micron array. A 5th-order fit does not appear to significantly improve the results over a 3rd order fit. However, this may be due at least partly to the failure of our current centroiding technique to account for variations in the Point Response Functions across each detector. We anticipate making several improvements in our continuing analysis, including (i) the refitting of the positions and position angles of each IRAC image using the Gaia catalog, (ii) making use of a less position-sensitive centroiding algorithm, (iii) correcting where possible for the proper motions of detected sources, and (iv) significantly increasing the number of source position measurements. Once finalized, the resulting distortion corrections will be incorporated into the headers of the archived images.

MAORY (Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY) will be the multi-conjugate adaptive optics module for the ELT first light. MAORY is a post focal relay optics and supports the MICADO imager and spectrograph. The tolerance process of MAORY is one of the most important step in the instrument design since it is intended to ensure that MAORY requested performances are satisfied when the final assembled instrument is operative. At the end, the assignment of tolerances to the various opto-mechanical parameters should be a trade-off between final cost of the system and its resulting performances. This paper describes the logic behind the tolerance analysis starting from definition of quantitative figures of merit for MAORY requirements and ending with estimation of MAORY performances perturbed by opto-mechanical tolerances. The method used to estimate tolerances takes care of compensation of errors during assembly/alignment procedure and uses a Root-Sum-Squared (RSS) merit function to combine independent error contributions. There are two requirements that limit the allowable changes of opto-mechanical parameters. The Root-Mean-Squared wavefront error (RMS WFE) and the optical distortion. The first one must satisfy diffraction limited performance over the MICADO Field-of-View (FoV) while the second one must satisfy high astrometric accuracy and precision. As criterion for tolerancing, the defined merit function considers the RMS wavefront referred to star centroids and adds boundary constraints on the compensators and geometric distortion in MICADO FoV. To evaluate the impact of tolerances on astrometry, a Monte Carlo approach was followed validating the expected performances from a pure opto-mechanical point of view.

Gaia is a cornerstone mission of the European Space Agency, approved with launch by end of 2012, but studied with a programmatic assumption of a launch in the 2010 time frame. Gaia will build an extraordinary precise 3-D map of about one billion stars throughout our Galaxy with an astrometric accuracy of about 10 μas (micro-arcseconds) for a star magnitude V = 15. The initial Gaia design was made in 1998 by Matra-Marconi Space, today EADS-Astrium (France) under ESA contract, awarded in open competition. The concept included two separate telescopes each having a very large focal plane made of about 250 CCDs. The target accuracy of 10 μas for a star magnitude V = 15 was shown to be achievable with available CCD technology and with an instrument envelope compatible with Ariane 5 launcher. In 2002, the initial design was deeply revisited by EADS-Astrium again under ESA contract in view of reducing the programme cost while preserving the science objectives. The reassessed concept still makes use of the same measurement principle but with some major modifications: the size of the instrument has been scaled down so as to enable a Soyuz-Fregat launch, and the two astrometric focal planes were superimposed by using a new optical configuration, therefore reducing the total number of CCDs from 500 to about 200. The paper describes the major evolution of Gaia payload.

This paper, “Astrometry at micro-arcsec resolution: optical design aspects and technology issues," was presented as part of International Conference on Space Optics—ICSO 1997, held in Toulouse, France.

MAORY (Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY) and MICADO (MCAO Imaging CamerA for Deep Observations) will perform the science in the Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics mode of the ELT (Extremely Large Telescope). One of their goals is the multi-object differential astrometry which requires low optical distortion and diffraction limited aberrations. To align MAORY, an automate method will be used during the integration of the instrument and could be part of the calibration strategy at the ELT site. This paper describes the method and the ray-tracing simulations carried out to validate the algorithm. Even in presence of different error sources, the method works in a large range of misalignments bringing the system close to the nominal performances.

Global astrometry, very demanding in term of stability, requires extremely stable material for optical bench. CeSiC developed by ECM and Alcatel Alenia Space for mirrors and high stability structures, offers the best compromise in term of structural strength, stability and very high lightweight capability, with characteristics leading to be insensitive to thermo-elastic at cryogenic T°. The HSOB GAIA study realised by Alcatel Alenia Space under ESA contract aimed to design, develop and test a full scale representative High Stability Optical Bench in CeSiC. The bench has been equipped with SAGEIS-CSO laser metrology system MOUSE1, Michelson interferometer composed of integrated optics with a nm resolution. The HSOB bench has been submitted to an homogeneous T° step under vacuum to characterise the homothetic behaviour of its two arms. The quite negligible inter-arms differential measured with a nm range reproducibility, demonstrates that a complete 3D structure in CeSiC has the same CTE homogeneity as characterisation samples, fully in line with the GAIA need (1pm at 120K). This participates to the demonstration that CeSiC properties at cryogenic T° is fully appropriate to the manufacturing of complex highly stable optical structures. This successful study confirms ECM and Alcatel Alenia Space ability to define and manufacture monolithic lightweight highly stable optical structures, based on inner cells triangular design made only possible by the unique CeSiC manufacturing process.

The Space Interferometry Mission is an optical stellar interferometer with a 10 meter baseline capable of micro-arcsecond accuracy astrometry.

The precision aimed at by ESA’s Astrometry and Radial Velocity mission GAIA surpasses that of the successful HIPPARCOS mission by more than 2 orders of magnitude, while at the same time increasing the number of objects 10000 times. This overwhelming increase in performance (statistical weight increased by ~ 8 orders of magnitude) is achieved by insisting on a full description in terms of photon shot noise as the fundamental limiting factor. Yet such measurements refer to wave front topography to be understood to the level of better than 100 pico meters, in an optical system a few meters across. Obviously such understanding relies heavily on the expected stability, and chromatic effects also are of dominant importance, requiring stellar spectral energy distributions to be determined. It is fascinating that the experience of HIPPARCOS can indeed generate sufficient confidence for these performance specifications to be within reach. Elaborating the design specifications and tolerances I hope to convince you of GAIA’s imminent success.

The Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR) is a Michelson-Morley-type experiment designed to test the Einstein’s general theory of relativity in the most intense gravitational environment available in the solar system – the close proximity to the Sun. By using independent time-series of highly accurate measurements of the Shapiro time-delay (laser ranging accurate to 1 cm) and interferometric astrometry (accurate to 0.1 picoradian), LATOR will measure gravitational deflection of light by the solar gravity with accuracy of 1 part in a billion, a factor ~30,000 better than currently available. LATOR will perform series of highly-accurate tests of gravitation and cosmology in its search for cosmological remnants of scalar field in the solar system. We present science, technology and mission design for the LATOR mission.

Gaia is the European Space Agency's cornerstone mission for global space astrometry. Its goal is to make the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of our Galaxy by surveying an unprecedented number of stars. This paper gives an overview of the mechanical system engineering and verification of the payload module. This development includes several technical challenges. First of all, the very high stability performance as required for the mission is a key driver for the design, which incurs a high degree of stability. This is achieved through the extensive use of Silicon Carbide (Boostec® SiC) for both structures and mirrors, a high mechanical and thermal decoupling between payload and service modules, and the use of high-performance engineering tools. Compliance of payload mass and volume with launcher capability is another key challenge, as well as the development and manufacturing of the 3.2-meter diameter toroidal primary structure. The spacecraft mechanical verification follows an innovative approach, with direct testing on the flight model, without any dedicated structural model.

The Theia mission, as a natural successor to Gaia, will be the first extremely-high-precision astrometric surveyor that may emerge from the last ESA M5 call in October 2016. A major objective of Theia in the context of this conference is the detection by astrometry of Earths and Super-Earths exoplanets in the habitable zone of nearby A to M stars. This can be done by astrometry from space if a motion of

The Gaia global astrometry mission is now entering its fourth year of routine science operations. With the publication of the first data release in September 2016, it has begun to fulfil its promise for revolutionary science in countless aspects of Galactic astronomy and astrophysics. I briefly review the Gaia mission status of operations and the scenario for the upcoming intermediate data releases, focusing on important lessons learned. Then, I illustrate the Gaia exoplanet science case, and discuss how the field will be revolutionized by the power of microarcsecond (μas) astrometry that is about to be unleashed. I conclude by touching upon some of the synergy elements that will call for combination of Gaia data with other indirect and direct detection and characterization techniques, for much improved understanding of exoplanetary systems.

Gaia is the European Space Agency’s cornerstone astrometry mission to measure the positions of a billion stars in the Milky Way with unprecedented accuracy. Since early 2014 Gaia has been operating in a halo orbit around the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point that provides the stable thermal environment, without Earth eclipses, needed for the payload to function accurately. The spacecraft is equipped with a number of thermally isolated, sun-facing thermistors that provide a continuous measurement of the local equilibrium temperature. As a consequence of the spacecraft design and operational conditions these temperature measurements have been used to infer the solar output over a broad wavelength range. In this paper we present an analysis of temperature measurements made of the Gaia solar panels at frequencies of up to 1 Hz for the first 35 months of routine operations. We show that the Gaia solar panel temperature measurements are capable of precisely determining short term changes to the solar output at a level of better than 0.04% with time constants of a few minutes.

NASA's Technology Development for Exoplanet Missions program; JPL's Exoplanet Exploration Program

A center-shift method is presented for astrometric calibration, which is effective for space debris astrometry in a small field of view. Its details are given, the accuracy is experimented and the result is presented. The average accuracy of astrometric calibration using center-shift method is about 0.57 arcsec. The center-shift method is applicable to images observed by equatorial mount telescopes.

WFST is a proposed 2.5m wide field survey telescope intended for dedicated wide field sciences. The telescope is to operate at six wavelength bands (u, g, r, i, z, and w), spanning from 320 to 1028 nm. Designed with a field of view diameter of 3 degree and an effective aperture diameter of 2.29 m, the WFST acquires a total optical throughput over 29.3 m2deg2. With such a large throughput, WFST will survey up to 6000deg2 of the northern sky in multiple colors each night, reaching 23th magnitude for high-precision photometry and astrometry. The optical design is based on an advanced primary-focus system made up of a 2.5 m f/2.48 concave primary mirror and a primary-focus assembly (PFA) consisting of five corrector lenses, atmospheric dispersion corrector (ADC), filters, and the focal-plane instrument. For zenith angles from 0 to 60 degrees, 80% of the polychromatic diffracted energy falls within a 0.35 arcsec diameter. The optical design also highlights an enhanced transmission in the UV bands. The total optical transmission reaches 23.5% at 320 nm, allowing unique science goals in the U band. Other features include low distortion and ease of baffling against stray lights, etc. The focal-plane instrument is a 0.9 gigapixel mosaic CCD camera comprising 9 pieces of 10K×10K CCD chips. An active optics system (AOS) is used to maintain runtime image quality. Various design aspects of the WFST including the optical design, active optics, mirror supports, and the focal-plane instrument are discussed in detail.

ELTs equipped with MCAO systems will be powerful astrometric tools in the next two decades. With sparse-field precisions exceeding 30 uas for V > 18, the ELTs will surpass even GAIA's per-epoch precision for faint stars (V > 12). We present results from an ongoing astrometry program with Gemini GeMS and discuss synergies with WFIRST and GAIA. First, we present a fit to the relative orbit of the individual L/T components of Luhman16 AB, the nearest brown dwarf binary known. Exploiting GeMS' wide field of view to image reference stars, we are able to track the relative motion to better than 0.2 mas. We find that a mutual Keplerian orbit with no perturbing planets fits the binary separation to within the measurement errors, ruling out companions down to 14 earth masses for certain orbits and periods.

General relativity can be tested in the strong gravity regime by monitoring stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center with adaptive optics. However, the limiting source of uncertainty is the spatial PSF variability due to atmospheric anisoplanatism and instrumental aberrations. The Galactic Center Group at UCLA has completed a project developing algorithms to predict PSF variability for Keck AO images. We have created a new software package (AIROPA), based on modified versions of StarFinder and Arroyo, that takes atmospheric turbulence profiles, instrumental aberration maps, and images as inputs and delivers improved photometry and astrometry on crowded fields. This software package will be made publicly available soon.