AMNH Astrophysics Research Spotlight - The Lyot Project
The star 55 Cancri observed with the coronagraph: possibly one of the highest quality stellar images ever made. The symmetric "speckles" arising from atmospheric effects and imperfections in the telescope optics are clear.
The coronagraph in transit to the AEOS telescope.
The
Lyot Project's new coronagraph, a device designed to observe faint objects in orbit around nearby stars, was installed at the AEOS telescope in March 2004. With the instrument fully operational in only 5 hours of telescope observing time, AMNH astrophysicists and collaborators have begun a new survey of nearby stars to acquire images of large planets orbiting these stars, as well as debris disks around these stars that may be in the process of forming planets. Images of this nature will allow scientists, for the first time, to directly study the large population of solar systems within the solar neighborhood. Observations are ongoing, along with an aggressive research and development program to refine the techniques of this new field called comparative exoplanetary science.
Visit the Departmental Lyot Project page.
Last modified
2005-07-01 09:54
