Forecasting water vapour above the sites of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT)

Turchi, Alessio; Masciadri, E.; Kerber, F.; Martelloni, Gianluca

doi:10.1093/mnras/sty2668

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Here, we will assume that N-band observations will only be performed during episodes of very low precipitable water vapor (<1 mm), which typically happen 12% of the time each year at Cerro Paranal. 51 In addition to atmospheric turbulence, another contribution of the Earth's atmosphere is refraction, which is chromatic and, therefore, leads to dispersion in the resulting broadband PSF. For instance, Ref.…”

Section: Atmospheric Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

METIS high-contrast imaging: design and expected performance

Carlomagno

Delacroix

Absil

et al. 2020

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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With the advent of 30-to 40-m class ground-based telescopes in the mid-2020s, direct imaging of exoplanets is bound to take a new major leap. Among the approved projects, the Mid-infrared Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) instrument for the ELT holds a prominent spot; by observing in the mid-infrared regime, it will be perfectly suited to study a variety of exoplanets and protoplanetary disks around nearby stars. Equipped with two of the most advanced coronagraphs, the vortex coronagraph and the apodizing phase plate, METIS will provide high-contrast imaging (HCI) in L-, Mand N-bands, and a combination of high-resolution spectroscopy and HCI in Land M-bands. We present the expected HCI performance of the METIS instrument, considering realistic adaptive optics residuals, and investigate the effect of the main instrumental errors. The most important sources of degradation are identified and realistic sensitivity limits in terms of planet/star contrast are derived. © 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.

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Section: Atmospheric Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

METIS high-contrast imaging: design and expected performance

Carlomagno

Delacroix

Absil

et al. 2020

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst.

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“…In the Northern hemisphere, telescopes such as the LBT in Arizona, those situated on Mauna Kea, and several other facilities present an opportunity for continued progress to improve mid-IR exoplanet imaging instrumentation. The LBT's location on the high-altitude inland peak of Mount Graham experiences average winter temperatures that are 15−20 • C colder than the coastal sites of other large telescopes, while providing similar precipitable water vapor conditions [31]. This results in a thermal background that is ∼25−30% lower than other sites.…”

Section: Building On the Lessons Of Near With Lbti/nomicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zones of nearby stars with ground-based mid-infrared imaging

Wagner¹,

Stone²,

Leisenring³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Giant exoplanets on 10-100 au orbits have been directly imaged around young stars. The peak of the thermal emission from these warm young planets is in the near-infrared (∼1-5 µm), whereas mature, temperate exoplanets (i.e., those within their stars' habitable zones) radiate primarily in the mid-infrared (mid-IR: ∼10 µm). If the background noise in the mid-IR can be mitigated, then exoplanets with low masses-including rocky exoplanets-can potentially be imaged in very deep exposures. Here, we review the recent results of the Breakthrough Watch/New Earths in the Alpha Centauri Region (NEAR) program on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. NEAR pioneered a ground-based mid-IR observing approach designed to push the capabilities for exoplanet imaging with a specific focus on the closest stellar system, α Centauri. NEAR combined several new optical technologies-including a mid-IR optimized coronagraph, adaptive optics system, and rapid chopping strategy to mitigate noise from the central star and thermal background within the habitable zone. We focus on the lessons of the VLT/NEAR campaign to improve future instrumentation−specifically on strategies to improve noise mitigation through chopping. We also present the design and commissioning of the Large Binocular Telescope's Exploratory Survey for Super-Earths Orbiting Nearby Stars (LESSONS), an experiment in the Northern hemisphere that is building on what was learned from NEAR to further push the sensitivity of mid-IR imaging. Finally, we briefly discuss some of the possibilities that mid-IR imaging will enable for exoplanet science.

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“…The same mesoscale model was also applied to the VLT site at Cerro Paranal in a pilot study called MOSE. [12][13][14][15] This Paranal mesoscale model has significantly evolved since its development to increase the accuracy of the predicted parameters. 16 A forecast system for turbulence and meteorology is also currently in operation at the Mauna Kea Observatories and is run by the Mauna Weather Center ‡ .…”

Section: Existing Forecasting Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nowcasting the turbulence at the Paranal Observatory

Milli¹,

Gonzalez²,

Fluxa³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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At Paranal Observatory, the least predictable parameter affecting the short-term scheduling of astronomical observations is the optical turbulence, especially the seeing, coherence time and ground layer fraction. These are critical variables driving the performance of the instruments of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), especially those fed with adaptive optics systems. Currently, the night astronomer does not have a predictive tool to support him/her in decision-making at night. As most service-mode observations at the VLT last less than two hours, it is critical to be able to predict what will happen in this time frame, to avoid time losses due to sudden changes in the turbulence conditions, and also to enable more aggressive scheduling. We therefore investigate here the possibility to forecast the turbulence conditions over the next two hours. We call this "turbulence nowcasting", analogously with weather nowcasting, a term already used in meteorology coming from the contraction of "now" and "forecasting". We present here the results of a study based on historical data of the Paranal Astronomical Site Monitoring combined with ancillary data, in a machine learning framework. We show the strengths and shortcomings of such an approach, and present some perspectives in the context of the Extremely Large Telescope.

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Forecasting water vapour above the sites of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT)

Cited by 12 publications

References 28 publications

METIS high-contrast imaging: design and expected performance

METIS high-contrast imaging: design and expected performance

Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zones of nearby stars with ground-based mid-infrared imaging

Nowcasting the turbulence at the Paranal Observatory

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