From Exoplanets to Quasars: Adventures in Angular Differential Imaging

Abstract

Angular differential imaging provides a novel way of probing the high contrast of our universe. Until now, its applications have been primarily localized to searching for exoplanets around nearby stars. This work presents a suite of applications of angular differential imaging from the theoretical underpinning of data reduction, to its use characterizing substellar objects to a new application looking for the host galaxies of damped Lyman α systems, which are usually lost in the glare of ultra-bright quasars along the line of sight.

Thesis for Master's of Science