Search

Using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) located at Gemini South, we measured the near-infrared (1.0-2.4 micron) spectrum of the planetary companion to the nearby, young star $\beta$ Pictoris. We compare the spectrum obtained with currently published model grids and with known substellar objects and present the best matching models as well as the best matching observed objects. Comparing the empirical measurement of the bolometric luminosity to evolutionary models, we find a mass of $12.9\pm0.2$ $\mathcal{M}_\mathrm{Jup}$, an effective temperature of $1724\pm15$ K, a radius of $1.46\pm0.01$ $\mathcal{R}_\mathrm{Jup}$, and a surface gravity of $\log g = 4.18\pm0.01$ [dex] (cgs). The stated uncertainties are statistical errors only, and do not incorporate any uncertainty on the evolutionary models. Using atmospheric models, we find an effective temperature of $1700-1800$ K and a surface gravity of $\log g = 3.5$-$4.0$ [dex] depending upon model. These values agree well with other publications and with "hot-start" predictions from planetary evolution models. Further, we find that the spectrum of $\beta$ Pic b best matches a low-surface gravity L2$\pm$1 brown dwarf. Finally comparing the spectrum to field brown dwarfs we find the the spectrum best matches 2MASS J04062677-381210 and 2MASS J03552337+1133437., Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, Accepted to AJ

We present Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) observations of AU Microscopii, a young M dwarf with an edge-on, dusty debris disk. Integral field spectroscopy and broadband imaging polarimetry were obtained during the commissioning of GPI. In our broadband imaging polarimetry observations, we detect the disk only in total intensity and find asymmetries in the morphology of the disk between the southeast and northwest sides. The southeast side of the disk exhibits a bump at 1$''$ (10 AU projected separation) that is three times more vertically extended and three times fainter in peak surface brightness than the northwest side at similar separations. This part of the disk is also vertically offset by 69$\pm$30 mas to the northeast at 1$''$ when compared to the established disk mid-plane and consistent with prior ALMA and Hubble Space Telescope/STIS observations. We see hints that the southeast bump might be a result of detecting a horizontal sliver feature above the main disk that could be the disk backside. Alternatively when including the morphology of the northwest side, where the disk mid-plane is offset in the opposite direction $\sim$50 mas between 0$.''$4 and 1$.''$2, the asymmetries suggest a warp-like feature. Using our integral field spectroscopy data to search for planets, we are 50% complete for $\sim$4 $M_\mathrm{Jup}$ planets at 4 AU. We detect a source, resolved only along the disk plane, that could either be a candidate planetary mass companion or a compact clump in the disk., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) entered on-sky commissioning and had its first-light at the Gemini South (GS) telescope in November 2013. GPI is an extreme adaptive optics (XAO), high-contrast imager and integral-field spectrograph dedicated to the direct detection of hot exo-planets down to a Jupiter mass. The performance of the apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph depends critically upon the residual wavefront error (design goal of 60 nm RMS with 5 mas RMS tip/tilt), and therefore is most sensitive to vibration (internal or external) of Gemini's instrument suite. Excess vibration can be mitigated by a variety of methods such as passive or active dampening at the instrument or telescope structure or Kalman filtering of specific frequencies with the AO control loop. Understanding the sources, magnitudes and impact of vibration is key to mitigation. This paper gives an overview of related investigations based on instrument data (GPI AO module) as well as external data from accelerometer sensors placed at different locations on the GS telescope structure. We report the status of related mitigation efforts, and present corresponding results., Comment: 12 pages,8 figures, Proc. SPIE 9148 (2014)

Using the recently installed Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), we have taken the first H-band spectrum of the planetary companion to the nearby young star beta Pictoris. GPI is designed to image and provide low-resolution spectra of Jupiter sized, self-luminous planetary companions around young nearby stars. These observations were taken covering the H-band (1.65 microns). The spectrum has a resolving power of $\sim$ 45 and demonstrates the distinctive triangular shape of a cool substellar object with low surface gravity. Using atmospheric models, we find an effective temperature of $1650 \pm 50$ K and a surface gravity of $\log(g) = 4.0 \pm 0.25$ (cgs units). These values agree well with predictions from planetary evolution models for a gas giant with mass between 10 and 12 $M_{\rm Jup}$ and age between 10 and 20 Myrs., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJL

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a new facility, extreme adaptive optics (AO), coronagraphic instrument, currently being integrated onto the 8-meter Gemini South telescope, with the ultimate goal of directly imaging extrasolar planets. To achieve the contrast required for the desired science, it is necessary to quantify and mitigate wavefront error (WFE). A large source of potential static WFE arises from the primary AO wavefront sensor (WFS) detector's use of multiple readout segments with independent signal chains including on-chip preamplifiers and external amplifiers. Temperature changes within GPI's electronics cause drifts in readout segments' bias levels, inducing an RMS WFE of 1.1 nm and 41.9 nm over 4.44 degrees Celsius, for magnitude 4 and 11 stars, respectively. With a goal of $<$2 nm of static WFE, these are significant enough to require remedial action. Simulations imply a requirement to take fresh WFS darks every 2 degrees Celsius of temperature change, for a magnitude 6 star; similarly, for a magnitude 7 star, every 1 degree Celsius of temperature change. For sufficiently dim stars, bias drifts exceed the signal, causing a large initial WFE, and the former periodic requirement practically becomes an instantaneous/continuous one, making the goal of $<$2 nm of static WFE very difficult for stars of magnitude 9 or fainter. In extreme cases, this can cause the AO loops to destabilize due to perceived nonphysical wavefronts, as some of the WFS's Shack-Hartmann quadcells are split between multiple readout segments. Presented here is GPI's AO WFS geometry, along with detailed steps in the simulation used to quantify bias drift related WFE, followed by laboratory and on sky results, and concluded with possible methods of remediation., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9148-217

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a next-generation, facility instrument currently being commissioned at the Gemini South observatory. GPI combines an extreme adaptive optics system and integral field spectrograph (IFS) with an apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph (APLC) producing an unprecedented capability for directly imaging and spectroscopically characterizing extrasolar planets. GPI's operating goal of $10^{-7}$ contrast requires very precise alignments between the various elements of the coronagraph (two pupil masks and one focal plane mask) and active control of the beam path throughout the instrument. Here, we describe the techniques used to automatically align GPI and maintain the alignment throughout the course of science observations. We discuss the particular challenges of maintaining precision alignments on a Cassegrain mounted instrument and strategies that we have developed that allow GPI to achieve high contrast even in poor seeing conditions., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-151

An Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC) uses a double-prism arrangement to nullify the vertical chromatic dispersion introduced by the atmosphere at non-zero zenith distances. The ADC installed in the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) was first tested in August 2012 while the instrument was in the laboratory. GPI was installed at the Gemini South telescope in August 2013 and first light occurred later that year on November 11th. In this paper, we give an overview of the characterizations and performance of this ADC unit obtained in the laboratory and on sky, as well as the structure of its control software., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-183

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) Extreme Adaptive Optics Coronograph contains an interferometric mode: a 10-hole non-redundant mask (NRM) in its pupil wheel. GPI operates at $Y, J, H$, and $K$ bands, using an integral field unit spectrograph (IFS) to obtain spectral data at every image pixel. NRM on GPI is capable of imaging with a half resolution element inner working angle at moderate contrast, probing the region behind the coronagraphic spot. The fine features of the NRM PSF can provide a reliable check on the plate scale, while also acting as an attenuator for spectral standard calibrators that would otherwise saturate the full pupil. NRM commissioning data provides details about wavefront error in the optics as well as operations of adaptive optics control without pointing control from the calibration system. We compare lab and on-sky results to evaluate systematic instrument properties and examine the stability data in consecutive exposures. We discuss early on-sky performance, comparing images from integration and tests with the first on-sky images, and demonstrate resolving a known binary. We discuss the status of NRM and implications for future science with this mode., Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-135

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a complex optical system designed to directly detect the self-emission of young planets within two arcseconds of their host stars. After suppressing the starlight with an advanced AO system and apodized coronagraph, the dominant residual contamination in the focal plane are speckles from the atmosphere and optical surfaces. Since speckles are diffractive in nature their positions in the field are strongly wavelength dependent, while an actual companion planet will remain at fixed separation. By comparing multiple images at different wavelengths taken simultaneously, we can freeze the speckle pattern and extract the planet light adding an order of magnitude of contrast. To achieve a bandpass of 20%, sufficient to perform speckle suppression, and to observe the entire two arcsecond field of view at diffraction limited sampling, we designed and built an integral field spectrograph with extremely low wavefront error and almost no chromatic aberration. The spectrograph is fully cryogenic and operates in the wavelength range 1 to 2.4 microns with five selectable filters. A prism is used to produce a spectral resolution of 45 in the primary detection band and maintain high throughput. Based on the OSIRIS spectrograph at Keck, we selected to use a lenslet-based spectrograph to achieve an rms wavefront error of approximately 25 nm. Over 36,000 spectra are taken simultaneously and reassembled into image cubes that have roughly 192x192 spatial elements and contain between 11 and 20 spectral channels. The primary dispersion prism can be replaced with a Wollaston prism for dual polarization measurements. The spectrograph also has a pupil-viewing mode for alignment and calibration., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-55

The Gemini Planet Imager is an extreme AO instrument with an integral field spectrograph (IFS) operating in Y, J, H, and K bands. Both the Gemini telescope and the GPI instrument are very complex systems. Our goal is that the combined telescope and instrument system may be run by one observer operating the instrument, and one operator controlling the telescope and the acquisition of light to the instrument. This requires a smooth integration between the two systems and easily operated control interfaces. We discuss the definition of the software and hardware interfaces, their implementation and testing, and the integration of the instrument with the telescope environment., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9149-87

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a dedicated facility for directly imaging and spectroscopically characterizing extrasolar planets. It combines a very high-order adaptive optics system, a diffraction-suppressing coronagraph, and an integral field spectrograph with low spectral resolution but high spatial resolution. Every aspect of GPI has been tuned for maximum sensitivity to faint planets near bright stars. During first light observations, we achieved an estimated H band Strehl ratio of 0.89 and a 5-sigma contrast of $10^6$ at 0.75 arcseconds and $10^5$ at 0.35 arcseconds. Observations of Beta Pictoris clearly detect the planet, Beta Pictoris b, in a single 60-second exposure with minimal post-processing. Beta Pictoris b is observed at a separation of $434 \pm 6$ milli-arcseconds and position angle $211.8 \pm 0.5$ deg. Fitting the Keplerian orbit of Beta Pic b using the new position together with previous astrometry gives a factor of three improvement in most parameters over previous solutions. The planet orbits at a semi-major axis of $9.0^{+0.8}_{-0.4}$ AU near the 3:2 resonance with the previously-known 6 AU asteroidal belt and is aligned with the inner warped disk. The observations give a 4% posterior probability of a transit of the planet in late 2017., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci

The Gemini Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics System - GeMS, a facility instrument mounted on the Gemini South telescope, delivers a uniform, near diffraction limited images at near infrared wavelengths (0.95 microns- 2.5 microns) over a field of view of 120 arc seconds. GeMS is the first sodium layer based multi laser guide star adaptive optics system used in astronomy. It uses five laser guide stars distributed on a 60 arc seconds square constellation to measure for atmospheric distortions and two deformable mirrors to compensate for it. In this paper, the second devoted to describe the GeMS project, we present the commissioning, overall performance and operational scheme of GeMS. Performance of each sub-system is derived from the commissioning results. The typical image quality, expressed in full with half maximum, Strehl ratios and variations over the field delivered by the system are then described. A discussion of the main contributor to performance limitation is carried-out. Finally, overheads and future system upgrades are described., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

After 101 nights of commissioning, the Gemini MCAO system (GeMS) started science operations in December 2012. After a brief reminder on GeMS specificities, we describe the overall GeMS performance, and we focus then on the first science results obtained with GeMS, illustrating the unique capabilities of this new Gemini instrument., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, invited paper at the AO4ELT3 conference, Florence, 2013

We analyze extensive BVRI photometry and radial velocity measurements for three double-lined deeply-eclipsing binary stars in the field of the old open cluster NGC 7142. The short period (P = 1.9096825 d) detached binary V375 Cep is a high probability cluster member, and has a total eclipse of the secondary star. The characteristics of the primary star (M=1.288+/-0.017 Sun) at the cluster turnoff indicate an age of 3.6 Gyr (with a random uncertainty of 0.25 Gyr), consistent with earlier analysis of the color-magnitude diagram. The secondary star (M = 0.871+/-0.008 Msun) is not expected to have evolved significantly, but its radius is more than 10% larger than predicted by models. Because this binary system has a known age, it is useful for testing the idea that radius inflation can occur in short period binaries for stars with significant convective envelopes due to the inhibition of energy transport by magnetic fields. The brighter star in the binary also produces a precision estimate of the distance modulus, independent of reddening estimates: (m-M)_V=12.86+/-0.07. The other two eclipsing binary systems are not cluster members, although one of the systems (V2) could only be conclusively ruled out as a present or former member once the stellar characteristics were determined. That binary is within 0.5 degrees of edge-on, is in a fairly long-period eccentric binary, and contains two almost indistiguishable stars. The other binary (V1) has a small but nonzero eccentricity (e=0.038) in spite of having an orbital period under 5 d., Comment: accepted to AJ, 14 figures, light curve data will be publicly available with the journal article

We present new discoveries of variable stars near the turnoff of the old open cluster NGC 7142. Contrary to previous studies, we detect eight contact or near contact eclipsing binaries (including three near the cluster turnoff), and most of these have good probability of being cluster members. We also identified one long-period variable that resides far to the red of the cluster giant branch, and four new detached eclipsing binaries. We have re-examined the question of distance and reddening for the cluster, and find that the distance is larger and reddening lower than in most previous studies. In turn this implies that NGC 7142 is probably slightly younger than M67, about 3 Gyr old. With an age of this size, NGC 7142 would be one of a small group of clusters with main sequence turnoff stars at the transition between convective and radiative cores., Comment: 18 figures, accepted to AJ

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world., Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overview

We demonstrate KLIP forward modeling spectral extraction on Gemini Planet Imager coronagraphic data of HR8799, using PyKLIP. We report new and re-reduced spectrophotometry of HR8799 c, d, and e from H-K bands. We discuss a strategy for choosing optimal KLIP PSF subtraction parameters by injecting fake sources and recovering them over a range of parameters. The K1/K2 spectra for planets c and d are similar to previously published results from the same dataset. We also present a K band spectrum of HR8799e for the first time and show that our H-band spectra agree well with previously published spectra from the VLT/SPHERE instrument. We compare planets c, d, and e with M, L, and T-type field objects. All objects are consistent with low gravity mid-to-late L dwarfs, however, a lack of standard spectra for low gravity late L-type objects lead to poor fit for gravity. We place our results in context of atmospheric models presented in previous publications and discuss differences in the spectra of the three planets.