On-Sky Demonstration of a Linear Band-limited Mask with Application to Visual Binary Stars

Abstract

We have designed and built the first band-limited coronagraphic mask used for ground-based high-contrast imaging observations. The mask resides in the focal plane of the near-infrared camera PHARO at the Palomar Hale telescope and receives a well-corrected beam from an extreme adaptive optics system. Its performance on-sky with single stars is comparable to current state-of-the-art instruments: contrast levels of $\sim 10^{-5}$ or better at 0.8" in $K_s$ after post-processing, depending on how well non-common-path errors are calibrated. However, given the mask's linear geometry, we are able to conduct additional unique science observations. Since the mask does not suffer from pointing errors down its long axis, it can suppress the light from two different stars simultaneously, such as the individual components of a spatially resolved binary star system, and search for faint tertiary companions. In this paper, we present the design of the mask, the science motivation for targeting binary stars, and our preliminary results, including the detection of a candidate M-dwarf tertiary companion orbiting the visual binary star HIP 48337, which we are continuing to monitor with astrometry to determine its association.

Accepted to ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• The TRENDS High-Contrast Imaging Survey. I. Three Benchmark M-dwarfs Orbiting Solar-type Stars
• Speckle Suppression with the Project 1640 Integral Field Spectrograph
• Estimates of the Planet Yield from Ground-Based High-Contrast Imaging Observations as a Function of Stellar Mass
• The TRENDS High-Contrast Imaging Survey. III. A Faint White Dwarf Companion Orbiting HD 114174
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• The TRENDS High-Contrast Imaging Survey. II. Direct Detection of the HD 8375 Tertiary
• A dual-mask coronagraph for observing faint companions to binary stars
• Direct Spectral Detection: An Efficient Method to Detect and Characterize Binary Systems