Pushing the limits of the coronagraphic occulters on Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
Citation
John H. Debes, Bin Ren, and Glenn Schneider "Pushing the limits of the coronagraphic occulters on Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 5(3), 035003 (13 June 2019). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.5.3.035003Rights
Copyright © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) contains the only currently operating coronagraph in space that is not trained on the Sun. In an era of extreme-adaptive-optics-fed coronagraphs, and with the possibility of future space-based coronagraphs, we re-evaluate the contrast performance of the STIS CCD camera. The 50CORON aperture consists of a series of occulting wedges and bars, including the recently commissioned BAR5 occulter. We discuss the latest procedures in obtaining high-contrast imaging of circumstellar disks and faint point sources with STIS. For the first time, we develop a noise model for the coronagraph, including systematic noise due to speckles, which can be used to predict the performance of future coronagraphic observations. Further, we present results from a recent calibration program that demonstrates better than 10 − 6 point-source contrast at 0.6″, ranging to 3 × 10 − 5 point-source contrast at 0.25″. These results are obtained by a combination of subpixel grid dithers, multiple spacecraft orientations, and postprocessing techniques. Some of these same techniques will be employed by future space-based coronagraphic missions. We discuss the unique aspects of STIS coronagraphy relative to ground-based adaptive-optics-fed coronagraphs.Note
Open access articleISSN
2329-4124Version
Final published versionSponsors
HST GO program [13786, 15219]; State of Maryland grant through the Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES)ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1117/1.jatis.5.3.035003