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| Paper: |
MEDI: An Instrument for Direct Detection of Massive Extrasolar Planets |
| Volume: |
294, Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets |
| Page: |
99 |
| Authors: |
Freed, M.; Close, L. M.; McCarthy, D. W.; Rademacher, M. |
| Abstract: |
We have developed an instrument, MEDI (Massive Exoplanet Differential Imager), that takes advantage of a novel method of starlight rejection, simultaneous differential imaging, in order to image massive planets around nearby stars. Using this technique we expect to achieve suppression of starlight to the photon-noise limit, which means that increased exposure time will translate into higher sensitivities. This is in contrast to past sequential and two-color simultaneous studies that reach a sensitivity floor due to speckle-noise limitations. Based on lab results, we expect to be able to detect objects 106 times fainter than their primaries in the H band at 0.5 arc-sec separations in 2 hours. This suggests that we will be sensitive to objects with masses as small as 5 Jupiters at separations of greater than about 5 AU for G2 V stars that are about 300 Myr old and within about 10 pc. |
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