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arXiv · 2003.02145

Original use of MUSE's laser tomography adaptive optics to directly image young accreting exoplanets

Julien H. Girard·Jozua de Boer·Sebastiaan Haffert·Peter Zeidler·Alexander Bohn·Rob G. van Holstein·Ignas Snellen·Jarle Brinchmann·Christoph Keller·Roland Bacon·Jaehan Bae
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Abstract

We present recent results obtained with the VLT/MUSE Integral Field Spectrograph fed by the 4LGSF and its laser tomography adaptive optics module GALACSI. While this so-called narrow-field mode of MUSE was not designed to perform directly imaging of exoplanets and outflows, we show that it can be a game changer to detect and characterize young exoplanets with a prominent emission lines (i.e Hα, tracer of accretion), at moderate contrasts. These performances are achieved thanks to the combo of a near-diffraction limited PSF and a medium resolution spectrograph and a cross-correlation approach in post-processing . We discuss this in the context of ground and space, infrared and visible wavelengths, preparing for missions like JWST and WFIRST in great synergy and as pathfinder for future ELT/GSMT (Extremely Large and/or Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes) instruments.

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Julien H. Girard, Jozua de Boer, Sebastiaan Haffert, Peter Zeidler, Alexander Bohn, Rob G. van Holstein, Ignas Snellen, Jarle Brinchmann, Christoph Keller, Roland Bacon, Jaehan Bae. 2020-03-04. Original use of MUSE's laser tomography adaptive optics to directly image young accreting exoplanets. https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.02145

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