Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EXO WORLDS
First light for SPHERE exoplanet imager
by Staff Writers
Munich, Germany (SPX) Jun 04, 2014


This infrared image shows the dust ring around the nearby star HR 4796A in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It was one of the first produced by the SPHERE instrument soon after it was installed on ESO's Very Large Telescope in May 2014. It shows not only the ring itself with great clarity, but also reveals the power of SPHERE to reduce the glare from the very bright star -- the key to finding and studying exoplanets in future. Image courtesy ESO/J.-L. Beuzit et al./SPHERE Consortium.

SPHERE passed its acceptance tests in Europe in December 2013 and was then shipped to Paranal. The delicate reassembly was completed in May 2014 and the instrument is now mounted on VLT Unit Telescope 3. SPHERE is the latest of the second generation of instruments for the VLT (the first three were X-shooter, KMOS and MUSE).

SPHERE combines several advanced techniques to give the highest contrast ever reached for direct planetary imaging - far beyond what could be achieved with NACO, which took the first ever direct image of an exoplanet. To reach its impressive performance SPHERE required early development of novel technologies, in particular in the area of adaptive optics, special detectors and coronagraph components.

"SPHERE is a very complex instrument. Thanks to the hard work of the many people who were involved in its design, construction and installation it has already exceeded our expectations. Wonderful!" says Jean-Luc Beuzit, of the Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, France and Principal Investigator of SPHERE.

SPHERE's main goal is to find and characterise giant exoplanets orbiting nearby stars by direct imaging. This is an extremely challenging task as such planets are both very close to their parent stars in the sky and also very much fainter.

In a normal image, even in the best conditions, the light from the star totally swamps the weak glow from the planet. The whole design of SPHERE is therefore focused on reaching the highest contrast possible in a tiny patch of sky around the dazzling star.

The first of three novel techniques exploited by SPHERE is extreme adaptive optics to correct for the effects of the Earth's atmosphere so that images are sharper and the contrast of the exoplanet increased. Secondly, a coronagraph is used to block out the light from the star and increase the contrast still further.

Finally, a technique called differential imaging is applied that exploits differences between planetary and stellar light in terms of its colour or polarisation - and these subtle differences can also be exploited to reveal a currently invisible exoplanet (ann13069, eso0503).

SPHERE was designed and built by the following institutes: Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble; Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie in Heidelberg; Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille; Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Paris; Laboratoire Lagrange in Nice; ONERA; Observatoire de Geneve; Italian National Institute for Astrophysics coordinated by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova; Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich; Astronomical Institute of the University of Amsterdam; Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA-ASTRON) and ESO.

During the first light observations several test targets were observed using the many different modes of SPHERE. These include one of the best images so far of the ring of dust around the nearby star HR 4796A. It not only shows the ring with exceptional clarity but also illustrates how well SPHERE can suppress the glare of the bright star at the centre of the picture.

Following further extensive tests and science verification observations SPHERE will be made available to the astronomical community later in 2014.

"This is just the beginning. SPHERE is a uniquely powerful tool andwill doubtless reveal many exciting surprises in the years to come," concludes Jean-Luc Beuzit.

.


Related Links
ESO
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EXO WORLDS
Two planets orbit nearby ancient star
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 04, 2014
An international team of astronomers, including five Carnegie scientists, reports the discovery of two new planets orbiting a very old star that is near to our own Sun. One of these planets orbits the star at the right distance to allow liquid water to exist on its surface, a key ingredient to support life. Their work is published by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Kapte ... read more


EXO WORLDS
New evidence supporting moon formation via collision of 2 planets

NASA Missions Let Scientists See Moon's Dancing Tide From Orbit

Earth's gravitational pull stretches moon surface

Water in moon rocks provides clues and questions about lunar history

EXO WORLDS
NASA Should Maintain Long-Term Focus on Mars as "Horizon Goal"

NASA could not deliver humans to Mars

Big Brother creators to document Mars One mission

NASA's human spaceflight program doomed to fail: study

EXO WORLDS
NASA And Virgin Galactic Select Payloads For First Research Flight

US may lose 'star wars' to Russia

NASA Invites Universities to Submit Innovative Technology Proposals

One docking ring to rule them all

EXO WORLDS
Chinese lunar rover alive but weak

China's Jade Rabbit moon rover 'alive but struggling'

Chinese space team survives on worm diet for 105 days

Moon rover Yutu comes closer to public

EXO WORLDS
Russia, US resume talks on new joint projects for ISS

Russian Soyuz with New Crew Docks at ISS in Automatic Mode

Russian, German and US astronauts dock with ISS

Six-Person Station Crew Enjoys Day Off Following Docking

EXO WORLDS
Next ATV transferred to Final Assembly Building at Kourou

Roscosmos Scolded for 'Pestering Society' with Proton Crash Theories

SpaceX unveils capsule to ferry astronauts to space

Elon Musk to present manned DragonV2 spacecraft on May 29

EXO WORLDS
Two planets orbit nearby ancient star

First light for SPHERE exoplanet imager

Astronomers Confounded By Massive Rocky World

Astronomers find a new type of planet: The 'mega-Earth'

EXO WORLDS
Raytheon selected to demonstrate next generation, modular radar system

Analyzing Resistance to Impacts and Improving Armor Plating

Intel's gesture control promises hands-free life at Taiwan show

A new way to make laser-like beams using 250x less power




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.