Abstract
The detection of extrasolar planets by direct imaging presents an extraordinary technical challenge. They must be identified against background light scattered from a star close by and about a billion times brighter. It has been supposed that a near-perfect space telescope would be required to avoid atmospheric blurring. But by using adaptive optics operating at fundamental performance limits, the new generation of large ground-based telescopes has the potential to detect planets orbiting nearby stars.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wolszczan, A. & Frail, D. A. Nature 355, 145–147 (1992).
Angel, J. R. P., Cheng, A. Y. S. & Woolf, N. J. Nature 322, 341–343 (1986).
Angel, J. R. P. in Proc. Workshop on The Next Generation Space Telescope (eds Bely, P. & Burrows, C. J.) 81–94 (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, 1990).
Brown, R. A. & Burrows, C. J. Icarus 87, 484–497 (1990).
Beckers, J. A. Rev. Astr. Astrophys. 31, 13–62 (1993).
Born, M. & Wolf, E. Principles of Optics (Pergamon, Oxford, 1980).
Angel, J. R. P. in Proc. Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Workshop Vol. 2 (ed. Fugate, R. Q.) 494–499 (Phillips Lab, Albuquerque, 1992).
Creath, K. Progress in Optics Vol 26 (ed. Wolf, E.) 349–393 (Elsevier, New York, 1988).
Zernike, F. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 94, 377–384 (1934).
Colucci, D. Thesis, Univ. Arizona (1993).
Wyant, J. Appl. Opt. 14, 2622–2626 (1975).
Fried, D. L. J. opt. Soc. Am. 56, 1373–1379 (1966).
Angel, J. R. P. in Proc. Institut D'Estudes Scientifiques de Cargese (eds Alloin, D. & Mariotti, J.-M.) (NATO Series C, Kluwer, The Netherlands, in the press).
Hudgin, R. J. opt. Soc. Am. 67, 393–395 (1977).
Sandler, D. G., Stahl, S., Angel, J. R. P., Lloyd-Hart, M. & McCarthy, D. J. opt. Soc. Am. (in the press).
Dyson, F. J. J. opt. Soc. Am. 65, 551–558 (1975).
Tatarski, V. I. Wave Propagation in a Turbulent Medium (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1961).
Dainty, J. C. (ed.) Laser Speckle and Related Phenomena 272–274 (Topics in Applied Physics Vol. 9, Springer, Berlin, 1984).
Woolf, N. & Angel, J. R. P. in Astrophysics from the Moon (eds Mumma, M. J. & Smith, H. J.) 95–98 (AIP Conf. Proc. Vol. 207, Am. Inst. Phys., New York, 1990).
Hoffleit, D. Yale Catalog of Bright Stars 3rd edn (New Haven Printing, New Haven, Connecticutt, 1964).
Backman, D. E. & Paresce, F. Protostars and Planets III (eds Levy, E. H. & Lunine, J. E.) 1253–1304 (Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, 1993).
Hogge, C. R. & Butts, R. R. J. opt. Soc. Am. 72, 606–609 (1982).
Martin, H. M., Hill, J. M. & Angel, J. R. P. Physics Today 44, March, 22–30 (1991).
Anderson, D. et al. in Proc. Soc. Photo-opt. Instrumentn Engrs (ed. Doherty, V. J.) 193–207 (SPIE, Bellingham, Washington, 1994).
Aitken, R. G. The Binary Stars (Dover, New York, 1964).
Burke, B. F. Nature 322, 340–341 (1986).
Fugate, R. Q. et al. in Proc. Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Workshop Vol. 1 (ed. Fugate, R. Q.) 132–163 (Phillips Lab. Albuquerque, 1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Angel, J. Ground-based imaging of extrasolar planets using adaptive optics. Nature 368, 203–207 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/368203a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/368203a0
This article is cited by
-
Backward-link computational imaging using batch learning networks
Neural Computing and Applications (2020)
-
Performance modeling of the adaptive optics system on the 2.16 m telescope
Science China Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy (2013)
-
A new method for imaging faint objects nearby a bright source
Chinese Science Bulletin (2000)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
