2021/04/27 by P. Pathak, Prashant Pathak, D. J. M. Petit dit de la Roche +23
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Advanced Semiconductor Detectors and Materials #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Exoplanet #High contrast #James Webb Space Telescope #Optics #Physics #Planet #Planetary system #Sirius #Solar System #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Telescope #astro-ph.EP
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202140529
published as A&A 652, A121 (2021) · Accepted for publication in A&A
arxiv created 2021/04/27 · openalex created_date 2021/05/10 · openalex publication_date 2021/07/02 · arxiv updated 2021/08/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Context. The direct imaging of rocky exoplanets is one of the major science goals of upcoming large telescopes. The contrast requirement for imaging such planets is challenging. However, the mid-IR (infrared) regime provides the optimum contrast to directly detect the thermal signatures of exoplanets in our solar neighbourhood. Aims. We aim to exploit novel fast-chopping techniques newly developed for astronomy with the aid of adaptive optics to look for thermal signatures of exoplanets around bright stars in the solar neighbourhood. Methods. We used the upgraded Very Large Telescope Imager and Spectrometer for the mid-InfraRed (VISIR) instrument with high-contrast imaging capability optimised for observations at 10 μm to look for exoplanets around five nearby ( d < 4 pc) stars. The instrument provides an improved signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) by a factor of ~4 in the N -band compared to standard VISIR for a given S/N and time. Results. In this work, we achieve a detection sensitivity of sub-mJy, which is sufficient to detect a few Jupiter mass planets in nearby systems. Although no detections are made, we achieve most sensitive limits within <2″ for all the observed targets compared to previous campaigns. For ϵ Indi A and ϵ Eri, we achieve detection limits very close to the giant planets discovered by RV, with the limits on ϵ Indi A being the most sensitive to date. Our non-detection therefore supports an older age for ϵ Indi A. The results presented here are promising for high-contrast imaging and exoplanet detections in the mid-IR regime.