CoCo: an experiment in infrared coronagraphy at the IRTF

Douglas W. Toomey; Christ Ftaclas; Robert H. Brown; David Trilling

doi:10.1117/12.317214

21 August 1998 CoCo: an experiment in infrared coronagraphy at the IRTF

Douglas W. Toomey, Christ Ftaclas, Robert H. Brown, David Trilling

Proceedings Volume 3354, Infrared Astronomical Instrumentation; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.317214
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 1998, Kona, HI, United States

Abstract

Imaging planets, brown dwarfs and disks around nearby stars is a challenging endeavor due to the required scene contrast. Success requires imaging down to m equals 20-25 within arcseconds of stars that are 4th-6th magnitude. Light scattered and diffracted from a variety of sources increases the background flux in the area of interest by orders of magnitude masking the target objects. As first shown by M. B. Lyot in 1939 masks can be placed in the focal pane and pupil planes of a camera to occult the bright central source making it possible to image the faint extensions around it. CoCo is an experiment in using a coronagraphic camera, for IR observations, on a large telescope in an effort to understand how a coronagraph can help and how to properly design one of the new generation of large telescopes. Recent result with CoCo show a factor of 5-10 reduction in background levels in the area from 2-7 arcseconds from the central object. This paper will describe those result and summarize what has been learned towards building coronagraphic cameras for today's large telescopes.

Citation Download Citation

Douglas W. Toomey, Christ Ftaclas, Robert H. Brown, and David Trilling "CoCo: an experiment in infrared coronagraphy at the IRTF", Proc. SPIE 3354, Infrared Astronomical Instrumentation, (21 August 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.317214

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