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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2014/42625
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| Title: | Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform |
| Authors: | Instrumentation and Photography
Unwin, Stephen
Traub, Wesley
Bryden, Geoffrey
Brugarolas, Paul
Chen, Pin
Guyon, Olivier
Hillenbrand, Lynne
Kasdin, Jeremy
Krist, John
Macintosh, Bruce
Mawet, Dimitri
Mennesson, Bertrand
Moody, Dwight
Roberts, Lewis C. Jr
Stapelfeldt, Karl
Stuchlik, David
Trauger, John
Vasisht, Gautam |
| Keywords: | suborbital
coronagraph
debris disk
exoplanets |
| Issue Date: | 1-Jul-2012 |
| Publisher: | Pasadena, CA : Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2012. |
| Citation: | SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+Instrumentation, Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 1-6, 2012 |
| Abstract: | Debris disks around nearby stars are tracers of the planet formation process, and they are a key element of our understanding of the formation and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems. With multi-color images of a significant number of disks, we can probe important questions: can we learn about planetary system evolution; what materials are the disks made of; and can they reveal the presence of planets? Most disks are known to exist only through their infrared flux excesses as measured by the Spitzer Space Telescope, and through images measured by Herschel. The brightest, most extended disks have been imaged with HST, and a few, such as Fomalhaut, can be observed using ground-based telescopes. But the number of good images is still very small, and there are none of disks with densities as low as the disk associated with the asteroid belt and Edgeworth- Kuiper belt in our own Solar System.
Direct imaging of disks is a major observational challenge, demanding high angular resolution and extremely high dynamic range close to the parent star. The ultimate experiment requires a space-based platform, but demonstrating much of the needed technology, mitigating the technical risks of a space-based coronagrap, and performing valuable measurements of circumstellar debris disks, can be done from a high-altitude balloon plat- form. In this paper we present a balloon-borne telescope experiment based on the Zodiac II design that would undertake compelling studies of a sample of debris disks. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2014/42625 |
| Appears in Collections: | JPL TRS 1992+
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