Publications (41)
HIRES, the high-resolution spectrograph for the ELT
Alessandro Marconi, Manuel Abreu, Vardan Adibekyan +99
HIRES will be the high-resolution spectrograph of the European Extremely Large Telescope at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. It consists of three fibre-fed spectrographs prov…
Direct imaging of exoplanets in the habitable zone with adaptive optics
Jared R. Males, Laird M. Close, Olivier Guyon +16
One of the primary goals of exoplanet science is to find and characterize habitable planets, and direct imaging will play a key role in this effort. Though imaging a true Earth ana…
Magellan Adaptive Optics first-light observations of the exoplanet beta Pic b. II. 3-5 micron direct imaging with MagAO+Clio, and the empirical bolometric luminosity of a self-luminous giant planet
Katie M. Morzinski, Jared R. Males, Andy J. Skemer +14
Young giant exoplanets are a unique laboratory for understanding cool, low-gravity atmospheres. A quintessential example is the massive extrasolar planet Pic b, which is 9 AU…
Status of MagAO and review of astronomical science with visible light adaptive optics
Laird M. Close, Jared R. Males, Katie M. Morzinski +10
We review astronomical results in the visible (lambda <1 micron) with adaptive optics and note the status the MagAO system and the recent upgrade to visible camera's Simultaneous/S…
Adapting the pyramid wavefront sensor for pupil fragmentation of the ELT class telescopes
Nicolas Levraud, Vincent Chambouleyron, Olivier Fauvarque +8
The next generation of Extremely Large Telescope (24 to 39m diameter) will suffer from the so-called "pupil fragmentation" problem. Due to their pupil shape complexity (segmentatio…
The First Circumstellar Disk Imaged in Silhouette with Adaptive Optics: MagAO Imaging of Orion 218-354
Katherine B. Follette, Laird M. Close, Jared R. Males +11
We present high resolution adaptive optics (AO) corrected images of the silhouette disk Orion 218-354 taken with Magellan AO (MagAO) and its visible light camera, VisAO, in simulta…
Bringing SOUL on sky
Enrico Pinna, Fabio Rossi, Alfio Puglisi +20
The SOUL project is upgrading the 4 SCAO systems of LBT, pushing the current guide star limits of about 2 magnitudes fainter thanks to Electron Multiplied CCD detector. This improv…
Strategy for sensing petal mode in presence of AO residual turbulence with pyramid wavefront sensor
Nicolas Levraud, Vincent Chambouleyron, Jean François Sauvage +9
With the Extremely Large Telescope-generation telescopes come new challenges. The complexity of these telescopes' pupil creates new problems for Adaptive Optics. In particular, the…
Advances in control of a Pyramid Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics system
Guido Agapito, Fabio Rossi, Cedric Plantet +2
Adaptive optics systems are an essential technology for the modern astronomy for ground based telescopes. One of the most recent revolution in the field is the introduction of the…
LBT SOUL data as a science test bench for MICADO PSF-R tool
Matteo Simioni, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Roland Wagner +14
Current state-of-the-art adaptive optics (AO) provides ground-based, diffraction-limited observations with high Strehl ratios (SR). However, a detailed knowledge of the point sprea…
First Light LBT AO Images of HR 8799 bcde at 1.65 and 3.3 Microns: New Discrepancies between Young Planets and Old Brown Dwarfs
Andrew J. Skemer, Philip M. Hinz, Simone Esposito +45
As the only directly imaged multiple planet system, HR 8799 provides a unique opportunity to study the physical properties of several planets in parallel. In this paper, we image a…
Numerical control matrix rotation for the LINC-NIRVANA Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics system
Carmelo Arcidiacono, Thomas Bertram, Roberto Ragazzoni +10
LINC-NIRVANA will realize the interferometric imaging focal station of the Large Binocular Telescope. A double Layer Oriented multi-conjugate adaptive optics system assists the two…
The Gray Needle: Large Grains in the HD 15115 Debris Disk from LBT/PISCES/Ks and LBTI/LMIRcam/L' Adaptive Optics Imaging
Timothy J. Rodigas, Philip M. Hinz, Jarron Leisenring +52
We present diffraction-limited \ks band and \lprime adaptive optics images of the edge-on debris disk around the nearby F2 star HD 15115, obtained with a single 8.4 m primary mirro…
MAVIS: performance estimation of the adaptive optics module
Guido Agapito, Daniele Vassallo, Cédric Plantet +5
The MCAO Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph (MAVIS) is a new visible instrument for ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). Its Adaptive Optics Module (AOM) must provide extreme adap…
XAO-assisted coronagraphy with SHARK NIR: from simulations to laboratory tests
Gabriele Umbriaco, Elena Carolo, Daniele Vassallo +22
Several Extreme Adaptive Optics (XAO) systems dedicated to the detection and characterisation of the exoplanets are currently in operation for 8-10 meter class telescopes. Coronagr…
The HOSTS survey for exozodiacal dust: Observational results from the complete survey
Steve Ertel, Denis Defrère, Philip M. Hinz +43
The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) enables nulling interferometric observations across the N band (8 to 13 um) to suppress a star's bright light and probe for fain…
Point spread function reconstruction for SOUL+LUCI LBT data
Matteo Simioni, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Roland Wagner +14
This paper presents the status of an ongoing project aimed at developing a PSF reconstruction software for adaptive optics (AO) observations. In particular, we test for the first t…
SOUL at LBT: commissioning results, science and future
Enrico Pinna, Fabio Rossi, Guido Agapito +27
The SOUL systems at the Large Bincoular Telescope can be seen such as precursor for the ELT SCAO systems, combining together key technologies such as EMCCD, Pyramid WFS and adaptiv…
The simulator of the VLT Deformable Secondary Mirror: a test tool for adaptive optics instruments for the Yepun-UT4 telescope
Runa Briguglio, Armando Riccardi, Luca Carbonaro +3
The Deformable Mirror Simulator (DMS) is an optical device reproducing the F/13 beam from the adaptive secondary mirror of the Very Large Telescope UT4. The system has been designe…
MagAO: Status and on-sky performance of the Magellan adaptive optics system
Katie M. Morzinski, Laird M. Close, Jared R. Males +19
MagAO is the new adaptive optics system with visible-light and infrared science cameras, located on the 6.5-m Magellan "Clay" telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. The inst…
Elephants, goldfishes and SOUL: a dissertation on forgetfulness and control systems
Guido Agapito, Enrico Pinna, Alfio Puglisi +1
Adaptive Optics control systems accumulate differential measurements during closed loop operations to estimate turbulence and drive the deformable mirror. But have you ever wondere…
Contactless actuators and pyramid wavefront sensor, the SPLATT concept for space active optics: an overview of the project and the last laboratory results
Runa Briguglio, Marco Xompero, Marcello Scalera +13
In the last few years the concept of an active space telescope has been greatly developed, to meet demanding requirements with a substantial reduction of tolerances, risks and cost…
Optical design trade-off study for the AO module of MAVIS
Davide Greggio, Simone Di Filippo, Demetrio Magrin +18
MAVIS (MCAO-Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph) is an instrument proposed for the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF), which is currently in the phase-A conceptual design stud…
On the Morphology and Chemical Composition of the HR 4796A Debris Disk
Timothy J. Rodigas, Christopher C. Stark, Alycia Weinberger +17
[abridged] We present resolved images of the HR 4796A debris disk using the Magellan adaptive optics system paired with Clio-2 and VisAO. We detect the disk at 0.77 \microns, 0.91…
BRUTE, PSF Reconstruction for the SOUL pyramid-based Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics facility of the LBT
Carmelo Arcidiacono, Andrea Grazian, Anita Zanella +11
The astronomical applications greatly benefit from the knowledge of the instrument PSF. We describe the PSF Reconstruction algorithm developed for the LBT LUCI instrument assisted…
Non-modulated pyramid wavefront sensor: Use in sensing and correcting atmospheric turbulence
Guido Agapito, Enrico Pinna, Simone Esposito +2
Context. The diffusion of adaptive optics systems in astronomical instrumentation for large ground-based telescopes is rapidly increasing and the pyramid wavefront sensor is replac…
MICADO PSF-Reconstruction work package description
Matteo Simioni, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Andrea Grazian +25
The point spread function reconstruction (PSF-R) capability is a deliverable of the MICADO@ESO-ELT project. The PSF-R team works on the implementation of the instrument software de…
Speckle statistics in adaptive optics images at visible wavelengths
Marco Stangalini, Fernando Pedichini, Enrico Pinna +11
Residual speckles in adaptive optics (AO) images represent a well-known limitation on the achievement of the contrast needed for faint source detection. Speckles in AO imagery can…
A high resolution image of the inner-shell of the PCygni nebula in the infra-red [Fe II] line
Carmelo Arcidiacono, Roberto Ragazzoni, Carlo Morossi +10
We have obtained with the LBT Telescope AO system Near-Infrared camera PISCES images of the inner-shell of the nebula around the luminous blue variable star P Cygni in the [Fe II]…
MAVIS: system modelling and performance prediction
Guido Agapito, Daniele Vassallo, Cedric Plantet +5
The MCAO Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph (MAVIS) Adaptive Optics Module has very demanding goals to support science in the optical: providing 15% SR in V band on a large F…
EMCCD for Pyramid wavefront sensor: laboratory characterization
Guido Agapito, Tommaso Mazzoni, Fabio Rossi +3
Electro-Multiplying CCDs offer a unique combination of speed, sub-electron noise and quantum efficiency. These features make them extremely attractive for astronomical adaptive opt…
MagAO: Status and Science
Katie M. Morzinski, Laird M. Close, Jared R. Males +10
"MagAO" is the adaptive optics instrument at the Magellan Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. MagAO has a 585-actuator adaptive secondary mirror and 1000-Hz pyramid…
Into the Blue: AO Science with MagAO in the Visible
Laird M. Close, Jared R. Males, Katherine B. Follette +11
We review astronomical results in the visible (λ<1μm) with adaptive optics. Other than a brief period in the early 1990s, there has been little astronomical science done in the v…
DM/WFS mis-registration tracking: Implementation and on-sky validation of SPRINT at LBT
Ben Buky, Cédric Taïssir Héritier, Fabio Rossi +7
The paper describes the implementation of the SPRINT method on the Large Binocular Telescope to track and correct mis‑registrations between the deformable mirror and wavefront sens…
DDO68 C: the actual appearance of a ghost satellite dwarf through adaptive optics at the Large Binocular Telescope
Francesca Annibali, Enrico Pinna, Leslie K. Hunt +12
Through adaptive optics (AO) imaging with the SOUL+LUCI instrument at the Large Binocular Telescope we were able to resolve, for the first time, individual stars in the gas-rich ga…
Magellan Adaptive Optics first-light observations of the exoplanet Pic b. I. Direct imaging in the far-red optical with MagAO+VisAO and in the near-IR with NICI
Jared R. Males, Laird M. Close, Katie M. Morzinski +20
We present the first ground-based CCD (m) image of an extrasolar planet. Using MagAO's VisAO camera we detected the extrasolar giant planet (EGP) Pictoris b in -sh…
Large Binocular Telescope Adaptive Optics System: New achievements and perspectives in adaptive optics
Simone Esposito, Armando Riccardi, Enrico Pinna +15
The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is a unique telescope featuring two co-mounted optical trains with 8.4m primary mirrors. The telescope Adaptive Optics (AO) system uses two inno…
SHARK-NIR, the coronagraphic camera for LBT, moving toward construction
Jacopo Farinato, Francesca Bacciotti, Carlo Baffa +37
SHARK-NIR is one of the two coronagraphic instruments proposed for the Large Binocular Telescope. Together with SHARK-VIS (performing coronagraphic imaging in the visible domain),…
Ground-breaking Exoplanet Science with the ANDES spectrograph at the ELT
Enric Palle, Katia Biazzo, Emeline Bolmont +56
In the past decade the study of exoplanet atmospheres at high-spectral resolution, via transmission/emission spectroscopy and cross-correlation techniques for atomic/molecular mapp…
Unveiling the population of dual- and lensed- AGNs at sub-arcsec separations
Filippo Mannucci, Elena Pancino, Francesco Belfiore +12
All cosmological models of structure formation predict the existence of a widespread population of dual supermassive black holes in-spiralling inside their common host galaxy, even…
A Thermal Infrared Imaging Study of Very Low-Mass, Wide Separation Brown Dwarf Companions to Upper Scorpius Stars: Constraining Circumstellar Environments
Vanessa Bailey, Philip M. Hinz, Thayne Currie +18
We present a 3-5um LBT/MMT adaptive optics imaging study of three Upper Scorpius stars with brown dwarf (BD) companions with very low-masses/mass ratios (M_BD < 25M_Jup; M_BD / M_s…