1. The Lyot Project: status and results
- Author
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Sivaramakrishnan, Anand, Oppenheimer, Ben R., Hinkley, Sasha, Brenner, Douglas, Soummer, Rémi, Mey, Jacob L., Lloyd, James P., Perrin, Marshall D., Graham, James R., Makidon, Russell B., Roberts, Lewis C., and Kuhn, Jeffrey R.
- Subjects
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CORONAGRAPHS , *TELESCOPES , *ADAPTIVE optics , *MOUNTAINS - Abstract
Abstract: We present a retrospective on, and some new imaging data from The Lyot Project JHK coronagraph which is used behind the 3.6 m AEOS 941-channel AO telescope on Mt. Haleakala, on the island of Maui in Hawaii. This instrument is the first ‘extreme adaptive optics’ (ExAO) coronagraph ever; it opens up new scientific search spaces in direct imaging of faint companions of nearby stars. It also blazed a trail for current ExAO systems being developed for ESO-VLT and Gemini telescopes. Amongst other things, the Lyot Project has been used to demonstrate a device for precision coronagraphic astrometry and photometry using the novel technique of placing a wire grid over the pupil to create stable fiducial ghost images, to show the effects of frozen actuators on a deformable mirror, to refine angular differential imaging for use on the Coudé focus of Alt-Az telescopes, and to develop a coronagraphic data reduction pipeline. To cite this article: A. Sivaramakrishnan et al., C. R. Physique 8 (2007). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2007
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