Project Description
Our group will equip the Subaru Telescope with a high performance coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics system for direct imaging of exoplanets & protoplanetary disks. The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system benefits from the most recent development in coronagraphy, adaptive optics and detector technologies, many of which have been pioneered by our group at Subaru Telescope.
The SCExAO system will be the first coronagraphic system truly optimized for detecting planets at very small angular separation. This optimization is essential to the success of any exoplanet direct detection program. The ability to probe the inner part of planetary systems will prove invaluable in our attempt at understanding their formation and evolution.
Our proposed work builds upon recent successful developments/achievements at Subaru Telescope: the 188-actuator adaptive optics system, the PIAA coronagraph, and the HiCIAO camera.
For more details on the project, check out the SCExAO Project webpage I maintain.