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Full list of authors: Wilson, Thomas G.; Goffo, Elisa; Alibert, Yann; Gandolfi, Davide; Bonfanti, Andrea; Persson, Carina M.; Collier Cameron, Andrew; Fridlund, Malcolm; Fossati, Luca; Korth, Judith; Benz, Willy; Deline, Adrien; Florén, Hans-Gustav; Guterman, Pascal; Adibekyan, Vardan; Hooton, Matthew J.; Hoyer, Sergio; Leleu, Adrien; Mustill, Alexander James; Salmon, Sébastien; Sousa, Sérgio G.; Suarez, Olga; Abe, Lyu; Agabi, Abdelkrim; Alonso, Roi; Anglada, Guillem; Asquier, Joel; Bárczy, Tamas; Barrado Navascues, David; Barros, Susana C. C.; Baumjohann, Wolfgang; Beck, Mathias; Beck, Thomas; Billot, Nicolas; Bonfils, Xavier; Brandeker, Alexis; Broeg, Christopher; Bryant, Edward M.; Burleigh, Matthew R.; Buttu, Marco; Cabrera, Juan; Charnoz, Sébastien; Ciardi, David R.; Cloutier, Ryan; Cochran, William D.; Collins, Karen A.; Colón, Knicole D.; Crouzet, Nicolas; Csizmadia, Szilard; Davies, Melvyn B.; Deleuil, Magali; Delrez, Laetitia; Demangeon, Olivier; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Dragomir, Diana; Dransfield, Georgina; Ehrenreich, David; Erikson, Anders; Fortier, Andrea; Gan, Tianjun; Gill, Samuel; Gillon, Michaël; Gnilka, Crystal L.; Grieves, Nolan; Grziwa, Sascha; Güdel, Manuel; Guillot, Tristan; Haldemann, Jonas; Heng, Kevin; Horne, Keith; Howell, Steve B.; Isaak, Kate G.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Kiss, Laszlo; Lacedelli, Gaia; Lam, Kristine; Laskar, Jacques; Latham, David W.; Lecavelier des Etangs, Alain; Lendl, Monika; Lester, Kathryn V.; Levine, Alan M.; Livingston, John; Lovis, Christophe; Luque, Rafael; Magrin, Demetrio; Marie-Sainte, Wenceslas; Maxted, Pierre F. L.; Mayo, Andrew W.; McLean, Brian; Mecina, Marko; Mékarnia, Djamel; Nascimbeni, Valerio; Nielsen, Louise D.; Olofsson, Göran; Osborn, Hugh P.; Osborne, Hannah L. M.; Ottensamer, Roland; Pagano, Isabella; Pallé, Enric; Peter, Gisbert; Piotto, Giampaolo; Pollacco, Don; Queloz, Didier; Ragazzoni, Roberto; Rando, Nicola; Rauer, Heike; Redfield, Seth; Ribas, Ignasi; Ricker, George R.; Rieder, Martin; Santos, Nuno C.; Scandariato, Gaetano; Schmider, François-Xavier; Schwarz, Richard P.; Scott, Nicholas J.; Seager, Sara; Ségransan, Damien; Serrano, Luisa Maria; Simon, Attila E.; Smith, Alexis M. S.; Steller, Manfred; Stockdale, Chris; Szabó, Gyula; Thomas, Nicolas; Ting, Eric B.; Triaud, Amaury H. M. J.; Udry, Stéphane; Van Eylen, Vincent; Van Grootel, Valérie; Vanderspek, Roland K.; Viotto, Valentina; Walton, Nicholas; Winn, Joshua N., We report the discovery and characterization of a pair of sub-Neptunes transiting the bright K-dwarf TOI-1064 (TIC 79748331), initially detected in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry. To characterize the system, we performed and retrieved the CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS), TESS, and ground-based photometry, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) high-resolution spectroscopy, and Gemini speckle imaging. We characterize the host star and determine Teff,⋆=4734±67K⁠, R⋆=0.726±0.007R⊙⁠, and M⋆=0.748±0.032M⊙⁠. We present a novel detrending method based on point spread function shape-change modelling and demonstrate its suitability to correct flux variations in CHEOPS data. We confirm the planetary nature of both bodies and find that TOI-1064 b has an orbital period of Pb = 6.44387 ± 0.00003 d, a radius of Rb = 2.59 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a mass of Mb=13.5+1.7−1.8 M⊕, whilst TOI-1064 c has an orbital period of Pc=12.22657+0.00005−0.00004 d, a radius of Rc = 2.65 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a 3σ upper mass limit of 8.5 M⊕. From the high-precision photometry we obtain radius uncertainties of ∼1.6 per cent, allowing us to conduct internal structure and atmospheric escape modelling. TOI-1064 b is one of the densest, well-characterized sub-Neptunes, with a tenuous atmosphere that can be explained by the loss of a primordial envelope following migration through the protoplanetary disc. It is likely that TOI-1064 c has an extended atmosphere due to the tentative low density, however further radial velocities are needed to confirm this scenario and the similar radii, different masses nature of this system. The high-precision data and modelling of TOI-1064 b are important for planets in this region of mass–radius space, and it allow us to identify a trend in bulk density–stellar metallicity for massive sub-Neptunes that may hint at the formation of this population of planets. © The Author(s) 2022., This study is based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Observatory under program ID 1102.C-0923. CHEOPS is an ESA mission in partnership with Switzerland with important contributions to the payload and the ground segment from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. The CHEOPS Consortium would like to gratefully acknowledge the support received by all the agencies, offices, universities, and industries involved. Their flexibility and willingness to explore new approaches were essential to the success of this mission. Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASA Science Mission Directorate. We acknowledge the use of public TESS data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. This research has made use of the Exoplanet Follow-up Observation Program website, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. Part of this work was done using data taken by KESPRINT, an international consortium devoted to the characterization and research of exoplanets discovered with space-based missions (http://www.kesprint.science/). This work makes use of observations from the LCOGT network. Part of the LCOGT telescope time was granted by NOIRLab through the Mid-Scale Innovations Program (MSIP). MSIP is funded by NSF. This study is based on data collected under the NGTS project at the ESO La Silla Paranal Observatory. The NGTS facility is operated by the consortium institutes with support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) projects ST/M001962/1 and ST/S002642/1. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. This work makes use of observations from the ASTEP telescope. ASTEP benefited from the support of the French and Italian polar agencies IPEV and PNRA in the framework of the Concordia station program and from Idex UCAJEDI (ANR-15-IDEX-01). Some of the observations in the paper made use of the High-Resolution Imaging instrument Zorro. Zorro was funded by the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program and built at the NASA Ames Research Center by Steve B. Howell, Nic Scott, Elliott P. Horch, and Emmett Quigley. Zorro was mounted on the Gemini-South telescope of the international Gemini Observatory, a program of NSF’s OIR Lab, which is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (USA), National Research Council Canada (Canada), Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (Chile), Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Argentina), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações (Brazil), and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Republic of Korea). TGW, ACC, and KH acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant numbers ST/R000824/1 and ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant ST/R003203/1. YA and MJH acknowledge the support of the Swiss National Fund under grant 200020_172746. DG and LMS gratefully acknowledge financial support from the CRT Foundation under grant no. 2018.2323 ‘Gaseous or rocky? Unveiling the nature of small worlds’. DG, MF, XB, SC, and JL acknowledge their roles as ESA-appointed CHEOPS science team members. CMP, MF, JK, and AJM gratefully acknowledge the support of the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA; DNR 65/19, 174/18, 2020-00104, and Career grant 120/19C). ADe and DE acknowledge support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (project fOURaCES; grant agreement no. 724427). ADe, ALe, and HO acknowledge support from the Swiss National Centre for Competence in Research ‘PlanetS’ and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). SH gratefully acknowledges CNES funding through the grant 837319. SES have received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 833925, project STAREX). SGS acknowledges support from FCT through FCT contract no. CEECIND/00826/2018 and POPH/FSE (EC). We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grants ESP2016-80435-C2-1-R, ESP2016-80435-C2-2-R, PGC2018-098153-B-C33, PGC2018-098153-B-C31, ESP2017-87676-C5-1-R, MDM-2017-0737 Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu-Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), and the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. The MOC activities have been supported by the ESA contract no. 4000124370. SCCB and VA acknowledge support from FCT through FCT contracts no. IF/01312/2014/CP1215/CT0004 and IF/00650/2015/CP1273/CT0001, respectively. ABr was supported by the SNSA. This project was supported by the CNES. LD is an F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher. The Belgian participation to CHEOPS has been supported by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) in the framework of the PRODEX Program, and by the University of Liège through an ARC grant for Concerted Research Actions financed by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. This work was supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacão by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019, UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032113, PTDC/FIS-AST/28953/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028953, PTDC/FIS-AST/28987/2017, and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028987, ODSD is supported in the form of work contract (DL 57/2016/CP1364/CT0004) funded by national funds through FCT. B-OD acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P2-190080). DD acknowledges support from the TESS Guest Investigator Program grant 80NSSC19K1727 and NASA Exoplanet Research Program grant 18-2XRP18_2-0136. MG is an F.R.S.-FNRS Senior Research Associate. KGI is the ESA CHEOPS Project Scientist and is responsible for the ESA CHEOPS Guest Observers Programme. She does not participate in, or contribute to, the definition of the Guaranteed Time Programme of the CHEOPS mission through which observations described in this paper have been taken, nor to any aspect of target selection for the programme. GL acknowledges support by CARIPARO Foundation, according to the agreement CARIPARO-Universitá degli Studi di Padova (Pratica no. 2018/0098). This work was granted access to the HPC resources of MesoPSL financed by the Region Ile de France and the project Equip@Meso (reference ANR-10-EQPX-29-01) of the programme Investissements d’Avenir supervised by the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche. ML acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant no. PCEFP2_194576. PFLM acknowledges support from STFC research grant number ST/M001040/1. LDN thanks the Swiss National Science Foundation for support under Early Postdoc. Mobility grant P2GEP2_200044. This work was also partially supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (PI: Queloz, grant number 327127). IR acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund through grant PGC2018-098153-B-C33, as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. This project has been supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) grant K-125015, the MTA-ELTE Lendület Milky Way Research Group, and the City of Szombathely under agreement no. 67.177-21/2016. This research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 803193/BEBOP), and from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC; grant no. ST/S00193X/1). VVG is an F.R.S-FNRS Research Associate., With funding from the Spanish government through the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation SEV-2017-0709.

A new coronagraphic instrument for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) has successfully passed the conceptual design phase. SHARK-NIR channel will be installed in one arm of the Large Binocular Telescope and it is designed to use different coronagraphic techniques, both to match as much as possible the different requirements of the different science cases and to explore the capabilities of such techniques for the next-generation of ELTs. By exploiting the combination with SHARK-VIS channel mounted at the other LBT arm, the instrument will offer simultaneous coronagraphic observations at different wavelengths, characterized by high contrast, even for relatively faint targets. This will be achievable thanks to the very efficient Adaptive Optics (AO) systems already operating at LBT (First Light AO, FLAO). Furthermore, the latter will be soon upgraded with new detectors, promising even better performance in terms of limiting magnitude. In this paper we present the status of the SHARK-NIR channel design.

Enabling accurate morphological and photometric analysis across a wide Field of View (FoV) is one of the keyscience requirement for multi-conjugate adaptive optics systems. With this motivation we present a study aimedat the investigation of the performance of Global-MCAO (GMCAO). Such an innovative concept, based onnatural guide stars in a wide technical FoV, addresses the need for an increase of the sky coverage, which is akey ingredient for future MCAO-based VLT instruments and for the forthcoming E-ELT. Using a tomographicsimulation tool, we compute a map of the Strehl Ratio in a 250′′ × 250′′ area, matching the Chandra Deep FieldSouth survey. Mock images of star and galactic fields are then built using such a map and analyzed as if theywere real and observed with the E-ELT instrumentation. We perform the source detection and two-dimensionallight-profile modeling using the IRAF/ELLIPSE code and we then compare the recovered parameters with theintrinsic data. The good match of our results claims that GMCAO is a reliable approach that can rebuild theAO concepts and can provide a frame of reference for a number of science cases.

In this paper, we discuss the feasibility and the performance assessment of a possible MCAO system for E-ELT, basedon the novel concept of Global MCAO, which takes advantage of a very wide technical FoV to perform adaptive opticscorrection using only natural guide stars, with the aim to increase the sky coverage. The technique envisages thedefinition of Virtual-DMs, as tools for the global reconstruction. This investigation has been carried out during afeasibility study we performed for ESO, in which we combined computations, simulations and literature. The aim of thisanalysis is to identify and review the main parameters and the technical issues, which would act as error sources in a realGMCAO system, evaluating their contribution to the overall performance. The study involves both issues related to thePyramid WFS in general, and to the GMCAO case in particular, including the wavelength and FoV size selection, thenumber of guide stars and reconstructed Virtual-DMs, and actual components parameters.