SPHERE, Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument |
SPHERE, Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument |
Jun 10 2014, 08:31 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
Page: SPHERE (ESO)
With its first light successfully gathered I think that this instrument deserve its own topic. This instrument is similar to the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and its prime scientific objective is the discovery and study of extra-solar planets (mostly giants, but for closest stars even super-earths are possible under very fortunate conditions). Another objectives are proto-planetary disks, brown dwarfs, evolved massive stars, Solar System and extragalactic science. SPHERE has three instruments: - The Infra-Red Dual-beam Imaging and Spectroscopy (IRDIS) - NIR imager and spectrograph. - The Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) - NIR spectrograph. - The Zurich Imaging Polarimeter (ZIMPOL) - visible/NIR imaging polarimeter. There are four images from SPHERE which were published as results of "first light" observations - Image of Titan at 1.59 microns: Images of Titan with polarimetric mode (and in visible light): Dusty ring around the star HR 4796A: A very low mass companion star to Iota Sagitarii from IRDIS (left image) and IFS (right image): All images credit: ESO/J.-L. Beuzit et al./SPHERE Consortium -------------------- |
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Sep 8 2015, 05:36 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 495 Joined: 12-February 12 Member No.: 6336 |
Pluto would be rather small due to extra distance.
Though when seeing those images of Ceres, I think SPHERE could improve a lot on the best views we currently have of Pallas. Hubble image below. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 25th April 2024 - 04:55 AM |
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