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Long Baseline Nulling Interferometry with the Keck Telescopes: a Progress Report
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 May 2006
Abstract
The Keck Interferometer Nuller (KIN) is one of the major scientific and technical precursors to the Terrestrial Planet Finder Interferometer (TPF-I) mission. KIN's primary objective is to measure the level of exo-zodiacal mid-infrared emission around nearby main sequence stars, which requires deep broad-band nulling of astronomical sources of a few Janskys at 10 microns. A number of new capabilitites are needed in order to reach that goal with the Keck telescopes: mid-infrared coherent recombination, interferometric operation in “split pupil” mode, N-band optical path stabilization using K-band fringe tracking and internal metrology, and eventually, active atmospheric dispersion correction. We report here on the progress made implementing these new functionalities, and discuss the initial levels of extinction achieved on the sky.
- Type
- Contributed Papers
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Colloquium C200: Direct Imaging of Exoplanets: Science & Techniques , October 2005 , pp. 227 - 232
- Copyright
- © 2006 International Astronomical Union
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