Cool Stars 14 - Submitted Abstract # 221
This version created on 05 October 2006

High Contrast Imaging with the Lyot Project and Integral Field
Spectroscopy for Exoplanets


Sasha Hinkley, Columbia University/AMNH
Ben Oppenheimer, AMNH
Anand Sivaramakrishnan, AMNH/Stony Brook
Remi Soummer, AMNH
Douglas Brenner, AMNH
Lewis C Roberts, Boeing
Marshall Perrin, UC Berkeley
Russel Makidon, STSci
Ian Parry, IoA Cambridge
David King, IoA Cambridge
Steve Medlen, IoA Cambridge

The Lyot Project is a multi-institution effort in high contrast
imaging aimed at characterizing the environments around nearby stars.
We use a classical Lyot coronagraph in tandem with the AEOS telescope,
which houses the highest order adaptive optics (AO) system in the
world.  Our survey focuses on searching for faint companions
(late-type stars and brown dwarfs) that would otherwise normally be
lost in the glare of their host stars.  We are in the process of
confirming proper motions for candidate companions, and if confirmed,
will measure their SEDs well into the near-infrared.  Moreover, we are
able to resolve the regions within ~500mas of the host star, as good
as any other working high contrast team.  This tight inner working
angle allows us to survey a greater volume of the solar neighborhood
for cool stellar and substellar companions to nearby stars.  At this
conference, we will showcase images and an SED for a possible brown
dwarf/LMS companion to a nearby star.  In addition, we are developing
an integral field spectrograph to complement our adaptive optics
capabilities.  Such an instrument will increase our sensitivity by a
factor of ~100.  The instrument will allow us to disentangle any
candidate companions from the speckle noise, the single largest factor
limiting our current sensitivity.  As a significant bonus, the
instrument will also provide low-resolution spectra, allowing us to
discern the nature of the companion and analyze its thermochemistry
and atmospheric physics.

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