Direct Imaging of Extrasolar Planets from Gemini Planet Imager to the Habitable Worlds Observatory
When
Where
Dr. Bruce Macintosh
Director, UC Observatories
University of California, Santa Cruz
Direct detection of extrasolar planets is a powerful technique, sensitive to planets in wide orbit, and allowing spectroscopic characterization of planetary atmospheres. One of the most effective instruments in this regime has been the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). GPI was a facility instrument combining advanced adaptive optics, a diffraction-controlling coronagraph, and an infrared integral field spectrograph on the Gemini South Telescope. From 2014-2019 we carried out the Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey (GPIES), which observed 532 young (10-200 Myr) nearby stars. I will summarize the key results of the GPIES program, including constraints on giant-planet distributions and atmospheric properties.
We have also extensively characterized GPI’s performance. Based on that, the GPI 2.0 project upgrades the existing instrument with faster adaptive optics, better coronagraph designs, and new spectrograph modes. When deployed on Gemini North, GPI 2.0 will be able to search younger stars in the Taurus and Ophiucus star-forming regions, and be sensitive to Jupiter-like “cold start” planets.
In the even longer run, direct imaging is the best path to characterizing true Earth analogs—planets orbiting in the habitable zone of sunlike stars, beyond the reach of practical transit spectroscopy. Such detection will require a dedicated space mission incorporating an advanced coronagraph—now known as the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Host: Dr. Mark Marley
To request Zoom Meeting link, contact PG4gdWVycz0iem52eWdiOmp2Z2cxQG5ldm1iYW4ucnFoIj48ZmNuYSBweW5mZj0ieWN5ciIgZmdseXI9Im9iay1mdm12YXQ6b2JlcXJlLW9iazsiPjxmZ2ViYXQ+PGg+anZnZzFAbmV2bWJhbi5ycWg8L2g+PC9mZ2ViYXQ+PC9mY25hPjwvbj4=