First light of the Gemini Planet Imager

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 111; no. 35; pp. 12661 - 12666
• Main Authors: Macintosh, Bruce, Graham, James R., Ingraham, Patrick, Konopacky, Quinn, Marois, Christian, Perrin, Marshall, Poyneer, Lisa, Bauman, Brian, Barman, Travis, Burrows, Adam S., Cardwell, Andrew, Chilcote, Jeffrey, De Rosa, Robert J., Dillon, Daren, Doyon, Rene, Dunn, Jennifer, Erikson, Darren, Fitzgerald, Michael P., Gavel, Donald, Goodsell, Stephen, Hartung, Markus, Hibon, Pascale, Kalas, Paul, Larkin, James, Maire, Jerome, Marchis, Franck, Marley, Mark S., McBride, James, Millar-Blanchaer, Max, Morzinski, Katie, Norton, Andrew, Oppenheimer, B. R., Palmer, David, Patience, Jennifer, Pueyo, Laurent, Rantakyro, Fredrik, Sadakuni, Naru, Saddlemyer, Leslie, Savransky, Dmitry, Serio, Andrew, Soummer, Remi, Sivaramakrishnan, Anand, Song, Inseok, Thomas, Sandrine, Wallace, J. Kent, Wiktorowicz, Sloane, Wolff, Schuyler
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 02.09.2014; PNAS; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)
• Subjects: Adaptive optics; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; brightness; debris disks; Diffraction; EXOPLANETS SPECIAL FEATURE; Extrasolar planet detection; Extrasolar planets; extreme adaptive optics; Fourier transformation; gemini planet imager; gravity; high-contrast imaging; image analysis; Imaging; imaging system; infrared wavefront sensor; interferometer; light; Observational astronomy; Optics; orbits; Physical Sciences; Physics; Planet detection; Planetary orbits; Planets; polarimetry; Probability; satellite imagery; sensor; spectral analysis; Spectrum analysis; Stars; telescope; Telescopes; high-contrast imaging; debris disks; extreme adaptive optics
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1304215111

The Gemini Planet Imager 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 the Gemini Planet Imager 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-σ 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-s exposure with minimal postprocessing. Beta Pictoris b is observed at a separation of 434 ± 6 milliarcseconds (mas) and position angle 211.8 ± 0.5°. Fitting the Keplerian orbit of Beta Pic b using the new position together with previous astrometry gives a factor of 3 improvement in most parameters over previous solutions. The planet orbits at a semimajor axis of [Formula] 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% probability of a transit of the planet in late 2017.