Poster abstract
Project 1640: an innovative high contrast imager for the discovery and characterisation of brown dwarfs
Abstract
Recent developments in the field of high contrast imaging are opening up a new parameter space in the detection of low mass companions. The discovery, characterisation and statistical analysis of low mass objects that span the planetary-stellar mass boundary will allow new insight into their formation and composition.
Project 1640 is an innovative new high contrast imager, combining a Lyot Coronagraph and an Integral Field Spectrograph, mounted behind the Palomar Hale Telescope AO system. The instrument's hyperspectral nature permits both the application of speckle suppression techniques and the retrieval of broadband spectra for objects imaged. In addition, the instrument's spatial resolution allows companionship to be established with only 2 epochs of data, by analysis of shared parallax, as opposed to the more traditional shared proper motion. I report here the first discoveries made with this instrument, their significance to the study of low mass companions and the effect of ongoing upgrades to both the instrument and the Palomar AO system to our potential target range.
Project 1640 is an innovative new high contrast imager, combining a Lyot Coronagraph and an Integral Field Spectrograph, mounted behind the Palomar Hale Telescope AO system. The instrument's hyperspectral nature permits both the application of speckle suppression techniques and the retrieval of broadband spectra for objects imaged. In addition, the instrument's spatial resolution allows companionship to be established with only 2 epochs of data, by analysis of shared parallax, as opposed to the more traditional shared proper motion. I report here the first discoveries made with this instrument, their significance to the study of low mass companions and the effect of ongoing upgrades to both the instrument and the Palomar AO system to our potential target range.