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The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration is NASA’s multi-year demonstration of laser communication from the Earth to a geosynchronous satellite. The mission currently has two optical ground stations (OGSs), with one in California (OGS1) and one in Hawaii (OGS2). Each ground terminal optical system consists of a high-order adaptive optics (AO) system, a laser transmit system, and a camera for target acquisition. The OGS1 AO system is responsible for compensating for the downlink beam for atmospheric turbulence and coupling it into the modem’s single mode fiber. The mission requires a coupling efficiency of 50%, which necessitates a high-order AO system. To achieve this performance, the AO system uses two deformable mirrors with one mirror correcting for low-spatial-frequency aberrations with large amplitude and a second deformable mirror correcting for high-spatial-frequency aberrations with small amplitude. Turbulence is sensed with a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor. To meet its performance requirements in the most stressing conditions, the system can operate at frame rates of 20 kHz. This high frame rate is enabled by the design of the real-time control system. We present an overview of both the hardware and software design of the system, and describe the control system and methods of reducing non-common path aberrations. Finally, we show measured system performance.

We present results of a high angular resolution survey of massive OB stars in the Cygnus OB2 association that we conducted with the NIRI camera and ALTAIR adaptive optics system of the Gemini North telescope. We observed 74 O- and early B-type stars in Cyg OB2 in the $JHK$ infrared bands in order to detect binary and multiple companions. The observations are sensitive to equal-brightness pairs at separations as small as 0.08 \arcsec, and progressively fainter companions are detectable out to $\Delta$ K = 9 mag at a separation of 2 arcsec. This faint contrast limit due to readnoise continues out to 10 arcsec near the edge of the detector. We assigned a simple probability of chance alignment to each companion based upon its separation and magnitude difference from the central target star and upon areal star counts for the general star field of Cyg OB2. Companion stars with a field membership probability of less than 1% are assumed to be physical companions. This assessment indicates that 47% of the targets have at least one resolved companion that is probably gravitationally bound. Including known spectroscopic binaries, our sample includes 27 binary, 12 triple, and 9 systems with four or more components. These results confirm studies of high mass stars in other environments that find that massive stars are born with a high multiplicity fraction. The results are important for the placement of the stars in the H-R diagram, the interpretation of their spectroscopic analyses, and for future mass determinations through measurement of orbital motion., Comment: 53 pages, 5 figures, Accepted to AJ

Future adaptive optics systems will require advanced predictive control algorithms that mitigate loop latency by forecasting disturbances. In many applications, such as laser communications terminals, synthesizing such controllers is challenging due to the non-stationary nature of the disturbance statistics over long periods. We present initial experimental results using a new, multichannel, adaptive control algorithm applied on the Integrated Optical System, an extreme AO system under development for the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration. The adaptive controller implicitly tracks disturbance statistics, and provides broadband wavefront control without the need for open loop downtime. The results illustrate the improved disturbance rejection capabilities of the controller compared to a traditional integrator, even when the exogenous disturbance statistics evolve.

Deformable mirrors are at the heart of any adaptive optics system. We present the results of tests of deformable mirrors from Microscale. One of the key innovations of these deformable mirrors is that the facesheet is created from a silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer with integral posts for mechanical linkage to the actuators. This dramat- ically reduces the variability of the influence function. The facesheet is bonded to an array of piezoelectric stack actuators. The actuators are currently PZT, but single crystal PMN actuators are being developed. We present results of optical and electrical tests of the performance of the DM.

The Integrated Optical System (IOS) is an extreme adaptive optics system designed for NASA’s Laser Com- munication Relay Demonstration mission. There is a great deal of overlap between the requirements for laser communication AO and high-contrast exoplanet imaging AO systems. Both require very high Strehl ratios with narrow fields of view. This overlap allows the IOS to serve as a testbed and technology demonstrator for astronomical extreme adaptive optics systems. There are several example technologies from the IOS that are already making the transition to astronomical AO systems. The first is that the real time controller based on Direct Memory Access transfer between the WFS camera link frame-grabber and a DSP board is being reused on the upgrade to PALM-3000 AO system at Palomar Observatory. This enables the system to minimize latency by bypassing the CPU and its inherent timing jitter. Technologies like this will be crucial to enabling high contrast imaging on the next generation of extremely large telescopes. In addition, the IOS measures Fried’s parameter from wavefraont measures in near real time. This technology has already been deployed to PALM-3000. The main function of Laser Communication AO systems is to couple the incoming light into single mode fiber. This is the same configuration that will be used by AO coupled radial velocity spectrographs. The adaptive optics system is a woofer/tweeter design, with one deformable mirror correcting for low spatial frequencies with large amplitude and a second deformable mirror correcting for high spatial frequencies with small amplitude. The system uses a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The system has achieved first light and is undergoing commissioning. We will present an overview of the system design and initial performance.

We summarize the red channel (2-5 micron) of the Planetary Systems Imager (PSI), a proposed second-generation instrument for the TMT. Cold exoplanets emit the majority of their light in the thermal infrared, which means these exoplanets can be detected at a more modest contrast than at other wavelengths. PSI-Red will be able to detect and characterize a wide variety of exoplanets, including radial-velocity planets on wide orbits, accreting protoplanets in nearby star-forming regions, and reflected-light planets around the nearest stars. PSI-Red will feature an imager, a low-resolution lenslet integral field spectrograph, a medium-resolution lenslet+slicer integral field spectrograph, and a fiber-fed high-resolution spectrograph., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

We observed 15 of the solar-type binaries within 67 pc of the Sun previously observed by the Robo-AO system in the visible, with the PHARO near-IR camera and the PALM-3000 adaptive optics system on the 5 m Hale telescope. The physical status of the binaries is confirmed through common proper motion and detection of orbital motion. In the process we detected a new candidate companion to HIP 95309. We also resolved the primary of HIP 110626 into a close binary making that system a triple. These detections increase the completeness of the multiplicity survey of the solar-type stars within 67 pc of the Sun. Combining our observations of HIP 103455 with archival astrometric measurements and RV measurements, we are able to compute the first orbit of HIP 103455 showing that the binary has a 68 yr period. We place the components on a color-magnitude diagram and discuss each multiple system individually., Comment: Accepted to Astronomical Journal, 8 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables

The Laser Communication Relay Demonstration is NASA’s multi-year demonstration of laser communication to a geosynchronous satellite. We are currently assembling the optical system for the first of the two baseline ground stations. The optical system consists of an adaptive optics system, the transmit system and a camera for target acquisition. The adaptive optics system is responsible for compensating the downlink beam for atmospheric turbulence and coupling it into the modem’s single mode fiber. The adaptive optics system is a woofer/tweeter design, with one deformable mirror correcting for low spatial frequencies with large amplitude and a second deformable mirror correcting for high spatial frequencies with small amplitude. The system uses a Shack- Hartmann wavefront sensor. The transmit system relays four beacon beams and one communication laser to the telescope for propagation to the space terminal. Both the uplink and downlink beams are centered at 1.55 microns. We present an overview of the design of the system as well as performance predictions including time series of coupling efficiency and expected uplink beam quality.

The adaptive optics system at the 3.6 m AEOS telescope was used to measure the astrometry and differential magnitude in I-band of 56 binary stars in 2002. The astrometric measurements will be of use for future orbital determination, and the photometric measurements will be of use in estimating the spectral types of the component stars. Two candidate companions were detected, but neither is likely to be gravitationally bound. Nine systems had not been observed in over 40 years. Eight of these are shown to share common proper motion, while HD 182352 is shown to be a background star. One of the two components of the HD 114378 (Alpha Com) is shown to be a variable star of unknown type. In addition, 86 stars were unresolved and the full-width half maxima of the images are presented.

The young open cluster Collinder 419 surrounds the massive O star, HD 193322, that is itself a remarkable multiple star system containing at least four components. Here we present a discussion of the cluster distance based upon new spectral classifications of the brighter members, UBV photometry, and an analysis of astrometric and photometric data from the UCAC3 and 2MASS catalogs. We determine an average cluster reddening of E(B-V)=0.37 +- 0.05 mag and a cluster distance of 741 +- 36 pc. The cluster probably contains some very young stars that may include a reddened M3 III star, IRAS~20161+4035.

The Lyot project used an optimized Lyot coronagraph with Extreme Adaptive Optics at the 3.63m Advanced Electro-Optical System telescope (AEOS) to observe 86 stars from 2004 to 2007. In this paper we give an overview of the survey results and a statistical analysis of the observed nondetections around 58 of our targets to place constraints on the population of substellar companions to nearby stars. The observations did not detect any companion in the substellar regime. Since null results can be as important as detections, we analyzed each observation to determine the characteristics of the companions that can be ruled out. For this purpose we use a Monte Carlo approach to produce artificial companions, and determine their detectability by comparison with the sensitivity curve for each star. All the non-detection results are combined using a Bayesian approach and we provide upper limits on the population of giant exoplanets and brown dwarfs for this sample of stars. Our nondetections confirm the rarity of brown dwarfs around solar-like stars and we constrain the frequency of massive substellar companions (M>40Mjup) at orbital separation between and 10 and 50 AU to be, 32 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables. Published in the Astrophysical Journal

The A5V star Alcor has an M3-M4 dwarf companion, as evidenced by a novel astrometric technique. Imaging spectroscopy combined with adaptive optics coronagraphy allowed for the detection and spectrophotometric characterization of the point source at a contrast of ~6 J- and H-band magnitudes and separation of 1" from the primary star. The use of an astrometric pupil plane grid allowed us to determine the projected separations between the companion and the coronagraphically occulted primary star to, submitted to ApJ on Nov 11, 2009; accepted for publication in ApJ on Dec 7, 2009; 10 pages, 3 figures

We demonstrate the versatility of a dual imaging polarimeter working in tandem with a Lyot coronagraph and Adaptive Optics to suppress the highly static speckle noise pattern--the greatest hindrance to ground-based direct imaging of planets and disks around nearby stars. Using a double difference technique with the polarimetric data, we quantify the level of speckle suppression, and hence improved sensitivity, by placing an ensemble of artificial faint companions into real data, with given total brightness and polarization. For highly polarized sources within 0.5 arcsec, we show that we achieve 3 to 4 magnitudes greater sensitivity through polarimetric speckle suppression than simply using a coronagraph coupled to a high-order Adaptive Optics system. Using such a polarimeter with a classical Lyot coronagraph at the 3.63m AEOS telescope, we have obtained a 6.5 sigma detection in the H-band of the 76 AU diameter circumstellar debris disk around the star HR 4796A. Our data represent the first definitive, ground-based, near-IR polarimetric image of the HR 4796A debris disk and clearly show the two outer ansae of the disk, evident in Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS/STIS imaging. We derive a lower limit to the fractional linear polarization of 29% caused by dust grains in the disk. In addition, we fit simple morphological models of optically thin disks to our data allowing us to constrain the dust disk scale height to 2.5{+5.0}_{-1.3} AU and scattering asymmetry parameter (g=0.20^{+.07}_{-.10}). These values are consistent with several lines of evidence suggesting that the HR 4796A disk is dominated by a micron-sized dust population, and are indeed typical of disks in transition between those surrounding the Herbig Ae stars to those associated with Vega-like stars., Accepted to ApJ, 8 pages, 4 figures, minor typos fixed, one reference added

Optical Ground Station 1 (OGS1) is the first of a new breed of dedicated ground terminals to support NASA’s developing space-based optical communications infrastructure. It is based at NASA’s Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) at the Table Mountain Observatory near Wrightwood, CA. The system will serve as the primary ground station for NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) experiment. This paper presents an overview of the OCTL telescope facility, the OGS1 ground-based optical communications systems, and the networking and control infrastructure currently under development. The OGS1 laser safety systems and atmospheric monitoring systems are also briefly described.

In August 2002, the near-Earth asteroid 2002 NY40, made its closest approach to the Earth. This provided an opportunity to study a near-Earth asteroid with a variety of instruments. Several of the telescopes at the Maui Space Surveillance System were trained at the asteroid and collected adaptive optics images, photometry and spectroscopy. Analysis of the imagery reveals the asteroid is triangular shaped with significant self-shadowing. The photometry reveals a 20-hour period and the spectroscopy shows that the asteroid is a Q-type.

Laser guide stars have increased the utility of adaptive optics systems by expanding the number of observable objects. The most common type of laser excites sodium in the mesosphere, and mesospheric sodium density is key to the performance of the laser. While a variety of observatories have conducted studies of the mesospheric sodium density, there are no published studies from Hawaii, which is home to some of the largest telescopes in the world. This paper presents mesospheric sodium densities measured by the University of Illinois lidar for 165 hr spanning 25 nights over 3 years. The mean sodium column density is 4.3 × 109 ± 0.2 × 109 cm–2, with a seasonal peak in the winter, as found at many other sites. The variations in a given night can be as high as the seasonal variation. We predict the average photon returns for the 15 W Keck II laser and a proposed 50 W laser at the Advanced Electro-Optical System 3.6 m telescope for the observed sodium abundances.

We present a retrospective on, and some new imaging data from The Lyot Project JHK coronagraph which is used behind the 3.6 m AEOS 941-channel AO telescope on Mt. Haleakala, on the island of Maui in Hawaii. This instrument is the first ‘extreme adaptive optics’ (ExAO) coronagraph ever; it opens up new scientific search spaces in direct imaging of faint companions of nearby stars. It also blazed a trail for current ExAO systems being developed for ESO-VLT and Gemini telescopes. Amongst other things, the Lyot Project has been used to demonstrate a device for precision coronagraphic astrometry and photometry using the novel technique of placing a wire grid over the pupil to create stable fiducial ghost images, to show the effects of frozen actuators on a deformable mirror, to refine angular differential imaging for use on the Coude focus of Alt-Az telescopes, and to develop a coronagraphic data reduction pipeline. To cite this article: A. Sivaramakrishnan et al., C. R. Physique 8 (2007).

We carried out a search for companions to B stars using the adaptive optics system of the Advanced Electro-Optical System 3.6 m telescope. We observed 70 B stars in the I band, finding 16 companions, 10 of which are newly discovered companions. For each system with a detected companion we give its measured astrometry and differential magnitude. We then put the observation in context of the system's known multiplicity and provide a somewhat crude estimate of its spectral type based on the single differential magnitude measurement. The separations range from 0.2'' to 7.31'', and the differential magnitudes range from 1.41 ? 0.01 to 10.1 ? 0.5. Finally, we present a list of the null detections and discuss the implications of null detections of selected stars.

A coronagraph in conjunction with adaptive optics provides an effective means to image faint companions of nearby stars from the ground. The images from such a system are complex, however, and need to be fully characterized and understood before planets or disks can be detected against the glare from the host star. Using data from the Lyot Project coronagraph, we investigate the difficulties of astrometric measurements in diffraction-limited coronagraphic images and consider the principal problem of determining the precise location of the occulted star. We demonstrate how the image structure varies when the star is decentered from the optical axis and show how even small offsets (0.05λ/D or 5 mas) give rise to false sources in the image. We consider methods of determining the star position from centroiding, instrument feedback, and analysis of point-spread function symmetry and conclude that internal metrology is the most effective technique.

Haleakala is the site for numerous telescopes, but the amount of published information on summit conditions is small. We seek to rectify that by presenting several years' worth of data on weather (cloud statistics, relative humidity, temperature, wind speed, and wind direction) and seeing conditions. We also examine the dependence of seeing on wind. Our goal is to provide observers with information that will help them better choose the timing of their observations, and to build up a climatological record for the site.

High spatial resolution images of Mars were acquired with the Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) 3.63-meter telescope at the Maui Space Surveillance System (MSSS) during both the 2001 and 2003 Mars apparitions. Comparisons are made of the surface albedo patterns obtained from these AEOS images to the surface albedo maps constructed from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data taken during the same time periods. These comparisons demonstrate that the images provide albedo information in a limited area surrounding the sub-Earth point that is consistent with the TES-derived albedo field. Additionally, it is shown that by employing adaptive optics (AO), the typical ground-based observing season of Mars can be extended. This is the only known published AO data set of Mars with temporal coverage over an entire apparition. Changes in the surface albedo affect the local ground temperature, which impacts the depth of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) above the surface. Since it is the state of the PBL that controls surface/atmospheric interaction, albedo variations have the power to alter the amount of dust that is lifted. A one-dimensional radiative/convective version of the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model is used to demonstrate that the measured albedo variations can alter the daytime ground temperatures by as much as 5 K, which in turn alters the structure of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Therefore, albedo changes are thermodynamically important, and the ability to characterize them, should orbital observations become unavailable, is a valuable capability.

We present astrometric and photometric measurements of 39 binary stars made with the adaptive optics system on the 3.6 m Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) telescope, taken from 2002 November to 2003 March. The binaries have separations ranging from 008 to 511 and differential magnitudes ranging from 0.096 to 7.9. Also, we include a list of observations of 23 known binaries that we were unable to resolve. In the process of these measurements, we discovered three new companions to two previously known binary stars. We also discuss the effects of scintillation and anisoplanatism on measurements of binary star photometry in adaptive optics images. Suggestions on how to minimize these effects are then given.

Those workers who participated in novel production and exchange in Victorian Britain were themselves often obscured by competing definitions of literary value and domestic labor. The career of Geraldine Jewsbury - novelist, reviewer, and publisher's reader - demonstrates that the work of the professional writer comprised more than the production of literary texts, and that textual commodities were themselves produced and circulated through a complex system of literate and social practices. If commodification can be said to alienate the worker from the product of her labors, then Jewsbury's thousands of anonymous reviews, publisher's reports, and ghost writings are evidence of such disjunctions between literacy and authorship within the professional work of writing. Jewsbury's efforts to construct and live out a definition of the professional woman writer encourage us to re-evaluate our own understandings of the ways in which literacy can be both empowering and alienating.

Most ground-based telescope mirror coatings are exposed to hostile environments, as the humidity, dust, and reactive gases in the air corrode and tarnish the coating. As the coating degrades the scatter increases. Eventually, every mirror needs to be recoated. This is a costly, time-consuming process that requires telescope down time and involves risks to both people and to equipment. The AEOS (Advanced Electro-Optical System) telescope has a mirror purge system that fills the mirror cell with dry air while the telescope is stowed. We present results conclusively demonstrating that this system extends the lifetime of the AEOS primary mirror coating, reducing the need for burdensome recoating.

We have observed the 2002 August 21 occultation by Pluto of theR ¼ 15:7mag star P131.1, using 0.5 s cadence observations in integrated white light with the Williams College frame-transfer, rapid-readout CCD at the 2.24 m University of Hawaii telescope. We detected an occultation that lasted 5 minutes, 9:1 � 0:7 s between half-light points. The ‘‘kinks’’ in the ingress and egress parts of the curve that were apparent in 1988 had become much less pronounced by the time of the two 2002 occultations that were observed, indicating a major change in the structure ofPluto’satmosphere.AnalysisofourlightcurvesshowsthatthepressureinPluto’satmospherehasincreasedatall the altitudes that we probed. Essentially, the entire pressure scale has moved up in altitude, increasing by a factor of 2 since 1988. Spikes in our light curve reveal vertical structure in Pluto’s atmosphere at unprecedentedly high resolution.Wehaveconfirmationofourspikesatlowertimeresolutionaspartofobservationsoftheemersionmade at 1.4 s and 2.4 s cadence with the 3.67 m AEOS telescope on Maui.

The multiple-star system ι Cas was observed as a calibration for our adaptive optics observations in 2001 July with the Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS) 3.63 m telescope in Maui, Hawaii, and the first ever image of the faint astrometric component Aa (along with A and B) was obtained at the H-band wavelength. Another image was obtained in 2002 February with the same telescope, but that time in the I band. This wider image includes the C component and is the first to show four components. By combining our images with seven recent speckle interferometry measurements, a 47 yr period relative orbit is derived for the A-Aa components. Comparing the motion of B with respect to the A-Aa system, previous A-B orbits are rejected in favor of simple rectilinear motion of B across the field. Nevertheless, the history of the relative vector separation between B and A reveals the suborbital motion of A around its center of gravity with Aa, leading to a true orbit for A. The masses of A and Aa are thus determined to be 1.99 ± 0.28 and 0.69 ± 0.12 M☉, respectively. Combining our differential photometry in the I and H bands with B and V information from the Tycho-2 catalog, we derive spectral types for all four from their colors: component A is spectral type A3 with peculiar red colors, Aa is G6, B is F5, and C is K3.

We conducted a survey of nearby binary systems composed of main sequence stars of spectral types F and G in order to improve our understanding of the hierarchical nature of multiple star systems. Using Robo-AO, the first robotic adaptive optics instrument, we collected high angular resolution images with deep and well-defined detection limits in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey i' band. A total of 695 components belonging to 595 systems were observed. We prioritized observations of faint secondary components with separations over 10" to quantify the still poorly constrained frequency of their subsystems. Of the 214 secondaries observed, 39 contain such subsystems; 19 of those were discovered with Robo-AO. The selection-corrected frequency of secondary subsystems with periods from 10^(3.5) to 10^5 days is 0.12 ± 0.03, the same as the frequency of such companions to the primary. Half of the secondary pairs belong to quadruple systems where the primary is also a close pair, showing that the presence of subsystems in both components of the outer binary is correlated. The relatively large abundance of 2+2 quadruple systems is a new finding, and will require more exploration of the formation mechanism of multiple star systems. We also targeted close binaries with periods less than 100 yr, searching for their distant tertiary components, and discovered 17 certain and 2 potential new triples. In a subsample of 241 close binaries, 71 have additional outer companions. The overall frequency of tertiary components is not enhanced, compared to all (non-binary) targets, but in the range of outer periods from 106 to 107.5 days (separations on the order of 500 AU), the frequency of tertiary components is 0.16 ± 0.03, exceeding the frequency of similar systems among all targets (0.09) by almost a factor of two. Measurements of binary stars with Robo-AO allowed us to compute first orbits for 9 pairs and to improve orbits of another 11 pairs.

We have developed three types of ASICs to be directly integrated with deformable mirrors, eliminating almost all cables. These will enable very compact adaptive optics systems in space with low power consumption.

HD 8673 hosts a massive exoplanet in a highly eccentric orbit (e=0.723). Based on two epochs of speckle interferometry a previous publication identified a candidate stellar companion. We observed HD 8673 multiple times with the 10 m Keck II telescope, the 5 m Hale telescope, the 3.63 m AEOS telescope and the 1.5m Palomar telescope in a variety of filters with the aim of confirming and characterizing the stellar companion. We did not detect the candidate companion, which we now conclude was a false detection, but we did detect a fainter companion. We collected astrometry and photometry of the companion on six epochs in a variety of filters. The measured differential photometry enabled us to determine that the companion is an early M dwarf with a mass estimate of 0.33-0.45 M?. The companion has a projected separation of 10 AU, which is one of the smallest projected separations of an exoplanet host binary system. Based on the limited astrometry collected, we are able to constrain the orbit of the stellar companion to a semi-major axis of 35{60 AU, an eccentricity ? 0.5 and an inclination of 75{85?. The stellar companion has likely strongly in uenced the orbit of the exoplanet and quite possibly explains its high eccentricity., Comment: Accepted to the Astronomical Journal, 6 Pages, 5 Figures

We present a new and computationally efficient method for characterizing very low mass companions using low resolution ($R\sim$30) near-infrared ($YJH$) spectra from high contrast imaging campaigns with integral field spectrograph (IFS) units. We conduct a detailed quantitative comparison of the efficacy of this method through tests on simulated data comparable in spectral coverage and resolution to the currently operating direct imaging systems around the world. In particular, we simulate Project 1640 data as an example of the use, accuracy, and precision of this technique. We present results from comparing simulated spectra of M, L, and T dwarfs with a large and finely-sampled grid of synthetic spectra using Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques. We determine the precision and accuracy of effective temperature and surface gravity inferred from fits to PHOENIX dusty and cond, which we find reproduce the low-resolution spectra of all objects within the adopted flux uncertainties. Uncertainties in effective temperature decrease from $\pm$100-500 K for M dwarfs to as small as $\pm$30 K for some L and T spectral types. Surface gravity is constrained to within 0.2-0.4 dex for mid-L through T dwarfs, but uncertainties are as large as 1.0 dex or more for M dwarfs. Results for effective temperature from low-resolution $YJH$ spectra generally match predictions from published spectral type-temperature relationships except for L-T transition objects and young objects. Single-band spectra (i.e., narrower wavelength coverage) result in larger uncertainties and often discrepant results, suggesting that high contrast IFS observing campaigns can compensate for low spectral resolution by expanding the wavelength coverage for reliable characterization of detected companions. [Abstract truncated], Comment: 43 pages, 15 figures. Accepted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Twenty multiple stellar systems with solar-type primaries were observed at high angular resolution using the PALM-3000 adaptive optics system at the 5 m Hale telescope. The goal was to complement the knowledge of hierarchical multiplicity in the solar neighborhood by confirming recent discoveries by the visible Robo-AO system with new near-infrared observations with PALM-3000. The physical status of most, but not all, of the new pairs is confirmed by photometry in the Ks band and new positional measurements. In addition, we resolved for the first time five close sub-systems: the known astrometric binary in HIP 17129AB, companions to the primaries of HIP 33555, and HIP 118213, and the companions to the secondaries in HIP 25300 and HIP 101430. We place the components on a color-magnitude diagram and discuss each multiple system individually., Comment: Accepted to Astronomical Journal

We present results of a search for faint companions to nearby (d \ 25 pc) solar-like (F and G spectral type) stars using the natural guide star adaptive optics system on the Mount Wilson 100 inch (2.5 m) telescope during the period from 1996 June to 1999 August. The observing list, based on the third edition (1991) of the Catalogue of Nearby Stars by Gliese and Jahreiss, at present has 416 entries. To date, about 20% of the objects have been observed under varied seeing conditions. We have detected faint visible companions to —ve of the stars: HD 144287, k Her A, HR 7123, 16 Cyg A, and HD 190067.

We present 2017 observations of 1286 binary stars, observed by means of speckle interferometry using six telescopes over a 15 year period from 1982 April to 1997 June. These measurements constitute the 23d installment in CHARA's speckle program at 2 to 4 m class telescopes and include the second major collection of measurements from the Mount Wilson 100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope. Orbital elements are also presented for 14 systems, seven of which have had no previously published orbital analyses.

We present photometric and astrometric results for 36 binary systems observed with the natural guide star adaptive optics system of the Mount Wilson Institute on the 100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope. The measurements consist of differential photometry in U, B, V, R, and I filters along with astrometry of the relative positions of system components. Magnitude differences were combined with absolute photometry found in the literature of the combined light for systems to obtain apparent magnitudes for the individual components at standard bandpasses, which in turn led to color determinations and spectral types. The combination of these results with Hipparcos parallax measurements yielded absolute magnitudes and allowed us to plot the components on an H-R diagram. To further examine the reliability and self-consistency of these data, we also estimated system masses from the spectral types.

We present radial velocity measurements and a single-lined spectroscopic orbit for the bright O-type star, HD 193322A, which we show to be a 311 day binary system that has a distant third companion (detected by speckle interferometry) in a 31 yr orbit. We suggest that the speckle companion appears in the spectrum as a broad-lined component of early B type. We also present a spectrum of the visual companion, HD 193322B, which appears to be an unresolved, double-lined spectroscopic binary. Thus, HD 193322, the central object in the open cluster Collinder 419, is a multiple system that contains at least five stars (possibly seven if the C and D components are physical). Such systems may play a key role in the dynamical ejection of runaway stars from young clusters.

In an uncharacteristic burst of rhetoric and emotion, the 1849 Select Committee on Public Libraries implored:Shall we therefore abandon the people to the influence of a low, enfeebling, and often pestilential literature, instead of enabling them to breathe a more pure, elevated, and congenial atmosphere? (viii)The means of bringing about such a literate atmosphere was the funding of a system of public libraries, institutions freely open to all, but especially aimed at working-class readers. These institutions would provide access to books unavailable to the working-class reading public. In providing such access, the libraries were also to ensure that books would be free of the “pestilential” influences of the “low” kinds of texts commonly available to the working class. The public library was thus to purify, elevate, and disinfect working-class reading.

We present moderate-resolution spectra obtained with the Georgia State University Multi-Telescope Telescope of 55 UMa, a triple system consisting of a 2.55 day spectroscopic binary and a third star in a 1873 day orbit (detected by speckle interferometry). We observed the spectral lines of all three stars, and we present radial velocity curves for both the close and wide orbits. We also present new speckle interferometric measurements and a revised solution of the astrometric (wide) orbit. The spectrum of each star was reconstructed using Doppler tomography, and we measured ratios of Fe I and Fe II lines in both the reconstructions and model synthetic spectra to estimate the stellar effective temperatures. These temperatures correspond to spectral types of A1 V and A2 V for the close pair and A1 V for the distant third star. We show that the metallic lines of the close pair are systematically strong, and we suggest that both objects are moderate Am stars. All the components have masses close to 2 M☉, and continued spectroscopic and astrometric observations will yield precise masses and absolute magnitudes.

The boron abundance of four B-type stars from the Orion association has been determined from Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS)/Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectra covering the B II 1362 A resonance line. After correction for large non-LTE effects, the mean boron abundance is similar to the meteoritic abundance, but a factor of 4 (0.6 dex) greater than published abundances of boron in interstellar gas. This difference in boron abundance between young stars and gas is unexplained. The Orion stars were selected by their oxygen abundances: two are enriched in oxygen by about 60% relative to the others. Analysis of the GHRS spectra shows that the O-rich stars are deficient in boron by about 250% (0.4 dex) relative to the O-poor stars. Then, if the differences in oxygen abundance reflect differing levels of contamination of the natal clouds with (O-rich) ejecta of local Type II supernovae, the ejecta were not enriched in boron synthesized by the ν-process.

The Debris Disk Explorer (DDX) is a proposed balloon-borne investigation of debris disks around nearby stars. Debris disks are analogs of the Asteroid Belt (mainly rocky) and Kuiper Belt (mainly icy) in our Solar System. DDX will measure the size, shape, brightness, and color of tens of disks. These measurements will enable us to place the Solar System in context. By imaging debris disks around nearby stars, DDX will reveal the presence of perturbing planets via their influence on disk structure, and explore the physics and history of debris disks by characterizing the size and composition of disk dust. The DDX instrument is a 0.75-m diameter off-axis telescope and a coronagraph carried by a stratospheric balloon. DDX will take high-resolution, multi-wavelength images of the debris disks around tens of nearby stars. Two flights are planned; an overnight test flight within the United States followed by a month-long science flight launched from New Zealand. The long flight will fully explore the set of known debris disks accessible only to DDX. It will achieve a raw contrast of 10^-7, with a processed contrast of 10^-8. A technology benefit of DDX is that operation in the near-space environment will raise the Technology Readiness Level of internal coronagraphs, deformable mirrors, and wavefront sensing and control, all potentially needed for a future space-based telescope for high-contrast exoplanet imaging., 13 pages, 8 figures. Presented at the SPIE "Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets VI" Conference

P1640 high contrast imaging system on the Palomar 200 inch Telescope consists of an apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph, the PALM-3000 adaptive optics (P3K-AO), and P1640 Calibrator (CAL). Science images are recorded by an integral field spectrograph covering J-H bands for detecting and characterizing stellar companions. With aberrations from atmosphere corrected by the P3K-AO, instrument performance is limited mainly by the quasi-static speckles due to noncommon path wavefront aberrations for the light to propagate to the P3K-AO wavefront sensor and to the coronagraph mask. The non-common path wavefront aberrations are sensed by CAL, which measures the post-coronagraph E-field using interferometry, and can be effectively corrected by offsetting the P3K-AO deformable mirror target position accordingly. Previously, we have demonstrated using CAL measurements to correct high order wavefront aberrations, which is directly connected to the static speckles in the image plane. Low order wavefront, on the other hand, usually of larger amplitudes, causes light to leak through the coronagraph making the whole image plane brighter. Knowledge error in low order wavefront aberrations can also affect the estimation of the high order wavefront. Even though, CAL is designed to sense efficiently high order wavefront aberrations, the low order wavefront front can be inferred with less sensitivity. Here, we describe our method for estimating both low and high order wavefront aberrations using CAL measurements by propagating the post-coronagraph E-field to a pupil before the coronagraph. We present the results from applying this method to both simulated and experiment data.

The Project 1640 instrument on the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory is a coronagraphic instrument with an integral field spectrograph at the back end, designed to find young, self-luminous planets around nearby stars. To reach the necessary contrast for this, the PALM-3000 adaptive optics system corrects for fast atmospheric speckles, while CAL, a phase-shifting interferometer in a Mach-Zehnder configuration, measures the quasistatic components of the complex electric field in the pupil plane following the coronagraphic stop. Two additional sensors measure and control low-order modes. These field measurements may then be combined with a system model and data taken separately using a white-light source internal to the AO system to correct for both phase and amplitude aberrations. Here, we discuss and demonstrate the procedure to maintain a half-plane dark hole in the image plane while the spectrograph is taking data, including initial on-sky performance., 9 pages, 7 figures, in Proceedings of SPIE, 8864-19 (2013)

The Laser Communication Relay Demonstration will feature a geostationary satellite communicating via optical links to multiple ground stations. The first ground station (GS-1) is the 1m OCTL telescope at Table Mountain in California. The optical link will utilize pulse position modulation (PPM) and differential phase shift keying (DPSK) protocols. The DPSK link necessitates that adaptive optics (AO) be used to relay the incoming beam into the single mode fiber that is the input of the modem. The GS-1 AO system will have two MEMS Deformable mirrors to achieve the needed actuator density and stroke limit. The AO system will sense the aberrations with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor using the light from the communication link’s 1.55 μm laser to close the loop. The system will operate day and night. The system’s software will be based on heritage software from the Palm 3000 AO system, reducing risk and cost. The AO system is being designed to work at r0 greater than 3.3 cm (measured at 500 nm and zenith) and at elevations greater than 20° above the horizon. In our worst case operating conditions we expect to achieve Strehl ratios of over 70% (at 1.55 μm), which should couple 57% of the light into the single mode DPSK fiber. This paper describes the conceptual design of the AO system, predicted performance and discusses some of the trades that were conducted during the design process.

We report low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the eruptive star FU Orionis using the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) Project 1640 installed at the Palomar Hale telescope. This work focuses on elucidating the nature of the faint source, located 0".5 south of FU Ori, and identified in 2003 as FU Ori S. We first use our observations in conjunction with published data to demonstrate that the two stars are indeed physically associated and form a true binary pair. We then proceed to extract J- and H-band spectro-photometry using the damped LOCI algorithm, a reduction method tailored for high contrast science with IFS. This is the first communication reporting the high accuracy of this technique, pioneered by the Project 1640 team, on a faint astronomical source. We use our low-resolution near-infrared spectrum in conjunction with 10.2 μm interferometric data to constrain the infrared excess of FU Ori S. We then focus on estimating the bulk physical properties of FU Ori S. Our models lead to estimates of an object heavily reddened, A_V = 8-12, with an effective temperature of ~4000-6500 K. Finally, we put these results in the context of the FU Ori N-S system and argue that our analysis provides evidence that FU Ori S might be the more massive component of this binary system.

The next generation of large ground based telescopes use segmented mirrors. Sensors mounted on the edge of the segments measure the relative heights of the segments. The segments are actively controlled in height by three actuators per segment, but lateral motion is only passively constrained. Thus there will be some small change in the gap and shear between segments as changing telescope orientation and temperature make small distortions in the telescope structure. These "in-plane" motions place an additional performance burden on the edge sensors, and on the precision with which they must be mounted relative to the optical surface. In addition, both the scaling and offset of sensor edge height readings also vary with changes in gap.

Project 1640, a high-contrast spectral-imaging effort involving a coordinated set of instrumentation and software, built at AMNH, JPL, Cambridge and Caltech, has been commissioned and is fully operational. This novel suite of instrumentation includes a 3388+241-actuator adaptive optics system, an optimized apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph, an integral field spectrograph, and an interferometric calibration wave front sensor. Project 1640 is the first of its kind of instrumentation, designed to image and characterize planetary systems around nearby stars, employing a variety of techniques to break the speckle-noise barrier. It is operational roughly one year before any similar project, with the goal of reaching a contrast of 10^(-7) at 1 arcsecond separation. We describe the instrument, highlight recent results, and document on-sky performance at the start of a 3-year, 99-night survey at the Palomar 5-m Hale telescope.

P1640 calibrator is a wavefront sensor working with the P1640 coronagraph and the Palomar 3000 actuator adaptive optics system (P3K) at the Palomar 200 inch Hale telescope. It measures the wavefront by interfering post-coronagraph light with a reference beam formed by low-pass filtering the blocked light from the coronagraph focal plane mask. The P1640 instrument has a similar architecture to the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and its performance is currently limited by the quasi-static speckles due to non-common path wavefront errors, which comes from the non-common path for the light to arrive at the AO wavefront sensor and the coronagraph mask. By measuring the wavefront after the coronagraph mask, the non-common path wavefront error can be estimated and corrected by feeding back the error signal to the deformable mirror (DM) of the P3K AO system. Here, we present a first order wavefront estimation algorithm and an instrument calibration scheme used in experiments done recently at Palomar observatory. We calibrate the P1640 calibrator by measuring its responses to poking DM actuators with a sparse checkerboard pattern at different amplitudes. The calibration yields a complex normalization factor for wavefront estimation and establishes the registration of the DM actuators at the pupil camera of the P1640 calibrator, necessary for wavefront correction. Improvement of imaging quality after feeding back the wavefront correction to the AO system demonstrated the efficacy of the algorithm.