TRIDENT: an infrared camera optimized for the detection of methanated substellar companions around nearby stars

Christian Marois; Rene Doyon; Daniel Nadeau; Rene Racine; Martin Riopel; Philippe Vallee

doi:10.1117/12.457844

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3 March 2003 TRIDENT: an infrared camera optimized for the detection of methanated substellar companions of nearby stars

Christian Marois, Rene Doyon, Daniel Nadeau, Rene Racine, Martin Riopel, Philippe Vallee

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Proceedings Volume 4860, High-Contrast Imaging for Exo-Planet Detection; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457844
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

A near-infrared camera in use at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and at the 1.6m telescope of the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic is described. The camera is based on a Hawaii-1 1024×1024 HgCdTe array detector. Its main feature is to acquire three simultaneous images at three wavelengths (simultaneous differential imaging) across the methane absorption bandhead at 1.6 micron, enabling an accurate subtraction of the stellar point spread function (PSF) and the detection of faint close methanated companions. The instrument has no coronagraph and features a fast (1 MHz) data acquisition system without reset anomaly, yielding high observing efficiencies on bright stars. The performance of the instrument is described, and it is illustrated by CFHT images of the nearby star Ups And. TRIDENT can detect (3 sigma) a methanated companion with Delta H=10 at 0.5” from the star in one hour of observing time. Non-common path aberrations between the three optical paths are the limiting factors preventing further PSF attenuation. Reference star subtraction and instrument rotation improve the detection limit by one order of magnitude.

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Christian Marois, Rene Doyon, Daniel Nadeau, Rene Racine, Martin Riopel, and Philippe Vallee "TRIDENT: an infrared camera optimized for the detection of methanated substellar companions of nearby stars", Proc. SPIE 4860, High-Contrast Imaging for Exo-Planet Detection, (3 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457844

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