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Clio: A 5 micron camera for the detection of giant exoplanets

  • Melanie Freed
  • , Philip M. Hinz
  • , Michael R. Meyer
  • , N. Mark Milton
  • , Michael Lloyd-Hart

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

We plan to take advantage of the unprecedented combination of low thermal background and high resolution provided by the 6.5m MMT's adaptive secondary mirror, to target the 3-5 micron atmospheric window where giant exoplanets are expected to be anomalously bright. We are in the process of building a 3-5 micron camera that we will use to carry out a survey to characterize the prevalence and distribution of giant planets around nearby, Sun-like stars. Sensitivity estimates show that for a 1 Gyr old GOV primary at 10 pc, we expect to detect 5 MJupiter and 15 MJupiter exoplanets at angular separations greater than 0.45-2.1" and 0.2-1.2" respectively. Monte Carlo simulations based on these sensitivity estimates and a sample of 80 young (<1 Gyr), nearby (<20 pc) MOV-FOV stars, predict the detection of 15±3 exoplanets with masses of 4-15 MJupiter and separations of 17-50 AU. Construction of the camera is currently underway and on-telescope testing is expected in the Fall 2004-Winter 2005.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1561-1571
Number of pages11
JournalProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume5492
Issue numberPART 3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004
EventGround-based Instrumentation for Astronomy - Glasgow, United Kingdom
Duration: Jun 21 2004Jun 25 2004

Keywords

  • Adaptive optics
  • Exoplanets
  • Imaging
  • Thermal infrared

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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