High dynamic range interferometric observations of exozodiacal discs: performance comparison between ground, space, and Antarctica

The possible presence of large amounts of exozodiacal dust around nearby main sequence stars represents a threat to the detection and characterisation of Earth-like extrasolar planets with future infrared space interferometers such as DARWIN or TPF. In this paper, we first review the current detecti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:SPIE Proceedings, Optical and Infrared Interferometry
Main Authors: Absil, Olivier, Defrere, Denis, Coudé du Foresto, Vincent, Di Folco, Emmanuel, den Hartog, Roland, Augereau, Jean-Charles
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: SPIE 2008
Subjects:
Exozodiacal dust
Infrared interferometry
Nulling interferometry
High-dynamic range observations
Physical
chemical
mathematical & earth Sciences
Space science
astronomy & astrophysics
Physique
chimie
mathématiques & sciences de la terre
Aérospatiale
astronomie & astrophysique
Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/85065
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/85065/1/Exozodis.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.790298
Description
Summary:The possible presence of large amounts of exozodiacal dust around nearby main sequence stars represents a threat to the detection and characterisation of Earth-like extrasolar planets with future infrared space interferometers such as DARWIN or TPF. In this paper, we first review the current detection capabilities of ground-based infrared interferometers such as CHARA/FLUOR and the detections of hot dust that have been obtained so far around a few main sequence stars. With the help of realistic instrumental simulations, we then discuss the relative merits of various ground-based sites (temperate and Antarctic) versus space-based observatories for the detection of exozodiacal discs down to a few zodi by interferometric nulling as a preparation to future life-finding missions. In particular, we discuss the performance of four proposed nulling interferometers: GENIE, ALADDIN, PEGASE and FKSI. An optimised strategy for the characterisation of candidate DARWIN/TPF targets is finally proposed.

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