Performance and Early Science with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics Project

Abstract

We describe the current performance of the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument on the Subaru telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii and present early science results for SCExAO coupled with the CHARIS integral field spectrograph. SCExAO now delivers H band Strehl ratios up to $\sim$ 0.9 or better, extreme AO corrections for optically faint stars, and planet-to-star contrasts rivaling that of GPI and SPHERE. CHARIS yield high signal-to-noise detections and 1.1--2.4 $\mu m$ spectra of benchmark directly-imaged companions like HR 8799 cde and kappa And b that clarify their atmospheric properties. We also show how recently published as well as unpublished observations of LkCa 15 lead to a re-evaluation of its claimed protoplanets. Finally, we briefly describe plans for a SCExAO-focused direct imaging campaign to directly image and characterize young exoplanets, planet-forming disks, and (later) mature planets in reflected light.

arXiv comment16 pages, 10 figures, Proc of SPIE Optics+Photonics 2019

References in corpus (27)

• Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799
• Images of a fourth planet orbiting HR 8799
• A giant planet imaged in the disk of the young star Beta Pictoris
• The Gemini Planet Imager: First Light
• The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey: Giant Planet and Brown Dwarf Demographics From 10-100 AU
• The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics system: enabling high-contrast imaging on solar-system scales
• Clouds and Chemistry in the Atmosphere of Extrasolar Planet HR8799b
• Accreting Protoplanets in the LkCa 15 Transition Disk
• A Combined Subaru/VLT/MMT 1--5 Micron Study of Planets Orbiting HR 8799: Implications for Atmospheric Properties, Masses, and Formation
• On the Diversity of the Taurus Transitional Disks: UX Tau A & Lk Ca 15
• Hints for a Turnover at the Snow Line in the Giant Planet Occurrence Rate
• The Hipparcos-Gaia Catalog of Accelerations
• Direct Imaging Discovery of a `Super-Jupiter' Around the late B-Type Star Kappa And
• A Statistical Analysis of SEEDS and Other High-Contrast Exoplanet Surveys: Massive Planets or Low-Mass Brown Dwarfs?
• Direct Imaging Confirmation and Characterization of a Dust-Enshrouded Candidate Exoplanet Orbiting Fomalhaut
• Characterizing 51 Eri b from 1-5 $\mu$m: a partly-cloudy exoplanet
• Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of a Candidate Companion Below/Near the Deuterium-Burning Limit In The Young Binary Star System, ROXs 42B
• High-contrast imaging of Sirius~A with VLT/SPHERE: Looking for giant planets down to one astronomical unit
• No Clear, Direct Evidence for Multiple Protoplanets Orbiting LkCa 15: LkCa 15 bcd are Likely Inner Disk Signals
• 1 to 2.4 micron Near-IR spectrum of the Giant Planet $\beta$ Pictoris b obtained with the Gemini Planet Imager
• A Closer Look at the LkCa 15 Protoplanetary Disk
• The Moving Group Targets of the SEEDS High-Contrast Imaging Survey of Exoplanets and Disks: Results and Observations from the First Three Years
• Discovery of a low-mass companion inside the debris ring surrounding the F5V star HD206893
• The Kappa Andromedae System: New Constraints on the Companion Mass, System Age & Further Multiplicity
• Blobs, spiral arms, and a possible planet around HD 169142
• The Age of the Directly-Imaged Planet Host Star $\kappa$ Andromedae Determined From Interferometric Observations
• SCExAO/CHARIS Near-IR High-Contrast Imaging and Integral Field Spectroscopy of the HIP 79977 Debris Disk