TY - GEN
T1 - Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform
AU - Unwin, Stephen
AU - Traub, Wesley
AU - Bryden, Geoffrey
AU - Brugarolas, Paul
AU - Chen, Pin
AU - Guyon, Olivier
AU - Hillenbrand, Lynne
AU - Krist, John
AU - MacIntosh, Bruce
AU - Mawet, Dimitri
AU - Mennesson, Bertrand
AU - Moody, Dwight
AU - Roberts, Lewis C.
AU - Stapelfeldt, Karl
AU - Stuchlik, David
AU - Trauger, John
AU - Vasisht, Gautam
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - 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 coronagraph, and performing valuable measurements of circumstellar debris disks, can be done from a high-altitude balloon platform. In this paper we present a balloon-borne telescope concept based on the Zodiac II design that could undertake compelling studies of a sample of debris disks.
AB - 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 coronagraph, and performing valuable measurements of circumstellar debris disks, can be done from a high-altitude balloon platform. In this paper we present a balloon-borne telescope concept based on the Zodiac II design that could undertake compelling studies of a sample of debris disks.
KW - Coronagraph
KW - Debris disks
KW - Exoplanets
KW - Suborbital
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U2 - 10.1117/12.924175
DO - 10.1117/12.924175
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84871841222
SN - 9780819491435
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012
T2 - Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave
Y2 - 1 July 2012 through 6 July 2012
ER -