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METIS high-contrast imaging: design and expected performance

Journal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and Systems, vol. 6, pp. 1–30

Abstract

With the advent of 30- to 40-m class ground-based telescopes in the mid-2020s, direct imaging of exoplanets is bound to take a new major leap. Among the approved projects, the Mid-infrared Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) instrument for the ELT holds a prominent spot; by observing in the mid-infrared regime, it will be perfectly suited to study a variety of exoplanets and protoplanetary disks around nearby stars. Equipped with two of the most advanced coronagraphs, the vortex coronagraph and the apodizing phase plate, METIS will provide high-contrast imaging (HCI) in L-, M- and N-bands, and a combination of high-resolution spectroscopy and HCI in L- and M-bands. We present the expected HCI performance of the METIS instrument, considering realistic adaptive optics residuals, and investigate the effect of the main instrumental errors. The most important sources of degradation are identified and realistic sensitivity limits in terms of planet/star contrast are derived.

Authors 8

  1. Brunella Carlomagno corresponding

    University of Liège

    Affiliation as printed

    Liège Univ

    University of Liège, STAR Institute, Sart Tilman

  2. University of Liège

    Affiliation as printed

    Liège Univ

  3. University of Liège

    Affiliation as printed

    Liège Univ

  4. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie

  5. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden Univ

  6. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden Univ

  7. ETH Zurich

    Affiliation as printed

    ETH Zurich

  8. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie

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References 90