Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

An image of an exoplanet separated by two diffraction beamwidths from a star

Nature volume 464, pages 1018–1020 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Three exoplanets around the star HR 8799 have recently been discovered by means of differential imaging with large telescopes1. Bright scattered starlight limits high-contrast imaging to large angular offsets, currently of the order of ten diffraction beamwidths, 10λ/D, of the star (where λ is the wavelength and D is the aperture diameter1,2,3,4,5). Imaging faint planets at smaller angles calls for reducing the starlight and associated photon and speckle noise before detection, while efficiently transmitting nearby planet light. To carry out initial demonstrations of reduced-angle high-contrast coronagraphy, we installed a vortex coronagraph6,7,8,9 capable of reaching small angles behind a small, well-corrected telescope subaperture that provides low levels of scattered starlight10,11. Here we report the detection of all three HR 8799 planets with the resultant small-aperture (1.5 m) system, for which only 2λ/D separate the innermost planet from the star, with a final noise level within a factor of two of that given by photon statistics. Similar well-corrected small-angle coronagraphs should thus be able to detect exoplanets located even closer to their host stars with larger ground-based telescopes12,13,14,15, and also allow a reduction in the size of potential space telescopes aimed at the imaging of very faint terrestrial planets.

Access options

Rent or Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

from$8.99

Rent or Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Pre- and post-vortex stellar point spread functions.
Figure 2: Final image of HR 8799 and concomitant stellar point spread function profiles and limiting contrast curves.
Figure 3: Keck K s -band image of HR 8799.

References

  1. 1

    Marois, C. et al. Direct imaging of multiple planets orbiting the star HR8799. Science 322, 1348–1352 (2008)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. 2

    Lafreniere, D., Marois, C., Doyon, R. & Barman, T. HST/NICMOS detection of HR8799b in 1998. Astrophys. J. 694, L148–L152 (2009)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. 3

    Fukagawa, M. et al. H-band image of a planetary companion around HR 8799 in 2002. Astrophys. J. 696, L1–L5 (2009)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. 4

    Metchev, S., Marois, C. & Zuckerman, B. Pre-discovery 2007 image of the HR 8799 planetary system. Astrophys. J. 705, L204–L207 (2009)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. 5

    Biller, B. et al. An imaging survey for extrasolar planets around 45 close, young stars with the simultaneous differential imager at the Very Large Telescope and MMT. Astrophys. J. 173 (Suppl.). 143–165 (2007)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. 6

    Foo, G., Palacios, D. M. & Swartzlander, G. A. Jr Optical vortex coronagraph. Opt. Lett. 30, 3308–3310 (2005)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. 7

    Mawet, D., Riaud, P., Absil, O. & Surdej, J. Annular groove phase mask coronagraph. Astrophys. J. 633, 1191–1200 (2005)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. 8

    Swartzlander, G. A. et al. Astronomical demonstration of an optical vortex coronagraph. Opt. Express 16, 10200–10297 (2008)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. 9

    Mawet, D. et al. Optical vectorial vortex coronagraphs using liquid crystal polymers: theory, manufacturing and laboratory demonstration. Opt. Express 17, 1902–1918 (2009)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. 10

    Serabyn, E. et al. Extreme adaptive optics imaging with a clear and well-corrected off-axis telescope subaperture. Astrophys. J. 658, 1386–1391 (2007)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. 11

    Serabyn, E. et al. Imaging faint brown dwarf companions close to bright stars with a small, well-corrected telescope aperture. Astrophys. J. 696, 40–46 (2009)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. 12

    Macintosh, B. A. et al. The Gemini Planet Imager: from science to design to construction. Proc. SPIE 7015, 701518 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. 13

    Beuzit, J.-L. et al. SPHERE: a planet finder instrument for the VLT. Proc. SPIE 7014, 701418 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. 14

    Hodapp, K. W. et al. HiCIAO: the Subaru Telescope’s new high-contrast coronographic imager for adaptive optics. Proc. SPIE 7014, 701419 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. 15

    Bouchez, A. H. et al. The PALM-3000 high-order adaptive optics system for Palomar Observatory. Proc. SPIE 7015, 70150Z (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. 16

    Jenkins, C. Optical vortex coronagraphs on ground-based telesopes. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 384, 515–524 (2008)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  17. 17

    Bikkannavar, S., Ohara, C. & Troy, M. Autonomous phase retrieval control for calibration of the Palomar Adaptive Optics system. Proc. SPIE 7015, 70155K (2008)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  18. 18

    Guyon, O., Pluzhnik, E. A., Kuchner, M. J., Collins, B. & Ridgway, S. T. Theoretical limits on extrasolar terrestrial planet detection with coronagraphs. Astrophys. J. 167 (Suppl.). 81–99 (2006)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  19. 19

    Mawet, D. et al. The Vector Vortex Coronagraph: laboratory results and first light at Palomar Observatory. Astrophys. J. 709, 53–57 (2010)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. 20

    Lafrenière, D., Marois, C. & Doyon, R., Nadeau, D. & Artigau, É. A new algorithm for point-spread function subtraction in high-contrast imaging: a demonstration with angular differential imaging. Astrophys. J. 660, 770–780 (2007)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. 21

    Malbet, F., Yu, J. W. & Shao, M. High-dynamic-range imaging using a deformable mirror for space coronography. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacif. 107, 386–398 (1995)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  22. 22

    Boccaletti, A., Chauvin, G., Baudoz, P. & Beuzit, J.-L. Coronagraphic near-IR photometry of AB Doradus C. Astron. Astrophys. 482, 939–943 (2008)

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. 23

    Mawet, D., Serabyn, E., Stapelfeldt, K. & Crepp, J. Imaging the debris disk of HD 32297 with a phase-mask coronagraph at high Strehl ratio. Astrophys. J. 702, L47–L50 (2009)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and is based on observations obtained at the Hale Telescope, Palomar Observatory, as part of a continuing collaboration between the California Institute of Technology, NASA/JPL, and Cornell University. We thank the staff of the Palomar Observatory and both the JPL and Caltech Palomar Adaptive Optics (PALAO) teams, as well as our colleagues at JDS Uniphase, where our vortex masks are manufactured.

Author Contributions All authors contributed equally to this work.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA

    E. Serabyn, D. Mawet & R. Burruss

Authors
  1. E. Serabyn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. D. Mawet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R. Burruss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Serabyn.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Figures

This file contains Supplementary Figure S1 with legend. (PDF 113 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Serabyn, E., Mawet, D. & Burruss, R. An image of an exoplanet separated by two diffraction beamwidths from a star. Nature 464, 1018–1020 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09007

Download citation

Further reading

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.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links