The hunt for Sirius Ab: comparison of algorithmic sky and PSF estimation performance in deep coronagraphic thermal-IR high contrast imaging

Joseph D. Long; Jared R. Males; Katie M. Morzinski; Laird M. Close; Frans Snik; Matthew A. Kenworthy; Gilles P. P. L. Otten; John Monnier; Volker Tolls; Alycia Weinberger

doi:10.1117/12.2312874

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10 July 2018 The hunt for Sirius Ab: comparison of algorithmic sky and PSF estimation performance in deep coronagraphic thermal-IR high contrast imaging

Joseph D. Long, Jared R. Males, Katie M. Morzinski, Laird M. Close, Frans Snik, Matthew A. Kenworthy, Gilles P. P. L. Otten, John Monnier, Volker Tolls, Alycia Weinberger

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10703, Adaptive Optics Systems VI; 107032T (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312874
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

Despite promising astrometric signals, to date there has been no success in direct imaging of a hypothesized third member of the Sirius system. Using the Clio instrument and MagAO adaptive optics system on the Magellan Clay 6.5 m telescope, we have obtained extensive imagery of Sirius through a vector apodizing phase plate (vAPP) coronagraph in a narrowband filter at 3.9 microns. The vAPP coronagraph and MagAO allow us to be sensitive to planets much less massive than the limits set by previous non-detections. However, analysis of these data presents challenges due to the target’s brightness and unique characteristics of the instrument. We present a comparison of dimensionality reduction techniques to construct background illumination maps for the whole detector using the areas of the detector that are not dominated by starlight. Additionally, we describe a procedure for sub-pixel alignment of vAPP data using a physical-optics-based model of the coronagraphic PSF.

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Joseph D. Long, Jared R. Males, Katie M. Morzinski, Laird M. Close, Frans Snik, Matthew A. Kenworthy, Gilles P. P. L. Otten, John Monnier, Volker Tolls, and Alycia Weinberger "The hunt for Sirius Ab: comparison of algorithmic sky and PSF estimation performance in deep coronagraphic thermal-IR high contrast imaging", Proc. SPIE 10703, Adaptive Optics Systems VI, 107032T (10 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312874

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