Project 1640: the World's First Exao Coronagraphic Hyperspectral Imager for Comparative Planetary Science Ben R
Project 1640: the world's first ExAO coronagraphic hyperspectral imager for comparative planetary science Ben R. Oppenheimer*a Charles Beichmanb, Douglas Brennera, Rick Burrussc, Eric Cadyc, Justin Creppb, Lynne Hillenbrandb, Sasha Hinkleyb, E. Robert Ligonc, Thomas Lockhartc, Ian Parryd, Laurent Pueyoe, Emily Ricea, Lewis C. Roberts, Jr.c, Jennifer Robertsc, Michael Shaoc, Anand Sivaramakrishnanf, Remi Soummerf, Gautam Vasishtc, Fred Vescelusc, J. Kent Wallacec, Chengxing Zhaic, Neil Zimmermang aAmerican Museum of Natural History, Dept. of Astrophysics, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY USA 10024-5192; bCalifornia Institute of Technology, 1201 California Blvd., Pasadena, CA USA 91125; cJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, USA; dInstitute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, Madlingly Road, Cambridge, UK; eJohns Hopkins University, Physics Dept. Baltimore, MD USA; fSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; gMax Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany ABSTRACT Project 1640, a high-contrast spectral-imaging effort involving a coordinated set of instrumentation and software, built at AMNH, JPL, Cambridge and Caltech, has been commissioned and is fully operational. This novel suite of instrumentation includes a 3388+241-actuator adaptive optics system, an optimized apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph, an integral field spectrograph, and an interferometric calibration wave front sensor. Project 1640 is the first of its kind of instrumentation, designed to image and characterize planetary systems around nearby stars, employing a variety of techniques to break the speckle-noise barrier. It is operational roughly one year before any similar project, with the goal of reaching a contrast of 10-7 at 1 arcsecond separation.
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