Mitteilung
Exoplaneten-Kamera SPHERE nach Chile versendet
18. Februar 2014
SPHERE – das „Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research“-Instrument – ist eine neue Hochleistungsvorrichtung, um Exoplaneten zu finden und zu untersuchen. Das Instrument wurde vor Kurzem erfolgreich in Frankreich fertig getestet, vorläufig von der ESO akzeptiert und nun nach Chile versendet. Dort wird es am Very Large Telescope (VLT) der ESO installiert werden, wobei die ersten Beobachtungen für Mai 2014 vorgesehen sind.
SPHERE wurde von einem Konsortium aus Astronomen und Ingenieuren aus vielen ESO-Mitgliedsländern in Zusammenarbeit mit der Industrie [1] gebaut. Das Konsortium wird vom Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique in Grenoble in Frankreich geleitet.
Die Hauptaufgabe von SPHERE wird es sein, große Exoplaneten, die nahe Sterne umkreisen, durch direkte Abbildung zu charakterisieren [2]. Dies ist eine sehr anspruchsvolle Aufgabe, da solche Planeten sehr nah an ihrem Mutterstern stehen und gleichzeitig sehr viel lichtschwächer sind. In einem gewöhnlichen Bild, selbst wenn es unter besten Bedingungen aufgenommen wurde, überstrahlt das Licht des Sterns das schwache Leuchten des Planeten bei Weitem. Das gesamte Design von SPHERE ist deshalb darauf ausgerichtet, den größtmöglichen Kontrast um einen sehr kleinen Bereich direkt um den Zentralstern herum zu erreichen.
SPHERE verwendet dazu mehrere Methoden und kann so Exoplaneten sichtbar machen. Zum einen dient eine adaptive Optik der Korrektur der Effekte der Erdatmosphäre, wodurch die Bilder schärfer werden und der Kontrast der Exoplaneten erhöht wird. Zum anderen wird ein Koronograf eingesetzt, um das Licht des Zentralsterns zu blockieren und den Kontrast noch weiter zu erhöhen. Außerdem kann man davon ausgehen, dass das Licht des Planeten polarisiert sein wird oder zumindest einige charakteristische Eigenschaften, die durch Moleküle hervorgerufen werden, in seinem Spektrum aufweisen wird. Dies steht im Gegensatz zur Strahlung des Zentralsterns, weshalb diese subtilen Unterschiede dazu verwendet werden können, das Unsichtbare sichtbar zu machen (ann13069, eso0503).
Sobald SPHERE in Chile angekommen ist, wird es am Hauptteleskop 3 des VLT installiert, getestet und in Betrieb genommen werden. Die ersten Beobachtungen sollen im Mai 2014 durchgeführt werden und der ungeduldig wartenden Gemeinschaft von Astronomen gegen Ende 2014 zur Verfügung gestellt werden.
Endnoten
[1] Das Konsortium umschließt mehrere europäische Institute: das Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique in Grenoble, Frankreich, das Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg, das Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique de l’Observatoire de Paris, Laboratoire Lagrange in Nizza, ONERA, das Observatoire de Genève, das Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, das Institut für Astronomie der ETH Zürich, das Astronomical Institute der University of Amsterdam, ASTRON und die ESO.
Links
Kontaktinformationen
Jean-Luc Beuzit
Directeur de Recherche CNRS
Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, France
Tel: +33 4 76 63 55 20
E-Mail: Jean-Luc.Beuzit@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
Markus Kasper
ESO
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6359
E-Mail: mkasper@eso.org
Richard Hook
ESO Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Mobil: +49 151 1537 3591
E-Mail: rhook@eso.org
Über die Mitteilung
| ID: | ann14013 |
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