SPICES: Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems - From Planetary Disks To Nearby Super Earths

SPICES (Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems) is a five-year M-class mission proposed to ESA Cosmic Vision. Its purpose is to image and characterize long-period extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks in the visible (450-900 nm) at a spectral resolution of about 40 using both spectroscopy and polarimetry. By 2020/2022, present and near-term instruments will have found several tens of planets that SPICES will be able to observe and study in detail. Equipped with a 1.5 m telescope, SPICES can preferentially access exoplanets located at several AUs (0.5-10 AU) from nearby stars (less than 25 pc) with masses ranging from a few Jupiter masses to Super Earths (approximately 2 Earth radii, approximately 10 mass compared to Earth) as well as circumstellar disks as faint as a few times the zodiacal light in the Solar System

SPICES: Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems

SPICES (Spectro-Polarimetric Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanetary Systems) is a five-year M-class mission proposed to ESA Cosmic Vision. Its purpose is to image and characterize long-period extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks in the visible (450 - 900 nm) at a spectral resolution of about 40 using both spectroscopy and polarimetry. By 2020/22, present and near-term instruments will have found several tens of planets that SPICES will be able to observe and study in detail. Equipped with a 1.5 m telescope, SPICES can preferentially access exoplanets located at several AUs (0.5-10 AU) from nearby stars ($<$25 pc) with masses ranging from a few Jupiter masses to Super Earths ($\sim$2 Earth radii, $\sim$10 M$_{\oplus}$) as well as circumstellar disks as faint as a few times the zodiacal light in the Solar System

First results from Herschel-SPIRE performance tests

The Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) is one of the three scientific instruments on the European Space Agency's Herschel mission. At the start of 2004 the Cryogenic Qualification Model (CQM) of SPIRE was tested with the aim of verifying the instrument system design and evaluating key performance parameters. We present a description of the test facility, an overview of the instrument tests carried out on the CQM, and the first results from the analysis of the test data. Instrument optical efficiency and detector noise levels are close to the values expected from unit-level tests, and the SPIRE instrument system works well, with no degradation in performance from stray light, electromagnetic interference or microphonically induced noise. Some anomalies and imperfections in the instrument performance, test set-up, and test procedures have been identified and will be addressed in the next test campaign

See-coast: polarimetric and spectral characterization of exoplanets with a small space telescope

To characterize orbits and atmospheres of exoplanets with large orbits (>= a few AU), direct imaging is nowadays the sole way. From space, this involves high contrast imaging techniques as coronagraphy, differential imaging or wavefront control. Several methods exist or are under development and several small (~1.5m) space telescope missions are proposed. One of them is See-coast (super-Earth explorer coronagraphic off-axis space telescope) which will be proposed to the next ESA Cosmic Vision call. It will provide polarimetric and spectral characterization of giant gazeous planets and possibly Super-Earths in visible light. In this paper, we first detail science cases of this mission. We then describe the foreseen telescope design and its instrumentation. We finally derive performance for a particular instrumental configuration from numerical simulation and we show how See-coast can retrieve planet spectra. <P /

Manufacturing and verification of ZnS and Ge prisms for the JWST MIRI imager

The JWST Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is designed to meet the JWST science requirements for mid-IR capabilities and includes an Imager MIRIM provided by CEA (France). A double-prism assembly (DPA) allows MIRIM to perform low-resolution spectroscopy. The MIRIM DPA shall meet a number of challenging requirements in terms of optical and mechanical constraints, especially severe optical tolerances, limited envelope and very high vibration loads. The University of Cologne (Germany) and the Centre Spatial de Liege (Belgium) are responsible for design, manufacturing, integration, and testing of the prism assembly. A companion paper (Fischer et al. 2008) is presenting the science drivers and mechanical design of the DPA, while this paper is focusing on optical manufacturing and overall verification processes. The first part of this paper describes the manufacturing of Zinc-sulphide and Germanium prisms and techniques to ensure an accurate positioning of the prisms in their holder. (1) The delicate manufacturing of Ge and ZnS materials and (2) the severe specifications on the bearing and optical surfaces flatness and the tolerance on the prism optical angles make this process innovating. The specifications verification is carried out using mechanical and optical measurements; the implemented techniques are described in this paper. The second part concerns the qualification program of the double-prism assembly, including the prisms, the holder and the prisms anti-reflective coatings qualification. Both predictions and actual test results are shown.MIRI for JWS

An N-band test bench for the METIS coronagraphic masks

METIS is one of the first three instruments for the ELT, Europe's next-generation ground-based telescope. It will offer imaging, coronagraphy and spectroscopy in the L, M and N bands for general-purpose science in astrophysics. Among its main science drivers are circumstellar disks and extrasolar planets observations, which requires demanding high contrast imaging techniques. In that framework, METIS will be equipped with state-of-the-art phase mask coronagraphs: Apodizing Phase Plate (APP) and Annular Grooves Phase Mask (AGPM). Manufacturing the AGPM coronagraphs is a complex process that requires performance assessment with specific testing before implementation into the instrument. At Department of Astrophysics (CEA Saclay, France), responsible for the testing of the N-band AGPMs, a previously available test bench with a telescope simulator and cryogenic facility has been upgraded to comply with the AGPM tests requirements. This paper presents these requirements and describes the test bench design adopted. Then, based on preliminary results, we discuss the original solutions that permitted to reach our goals.EPI

First tests of the coronagraphic device of MIRI/JWST

International audienc

Modellgestützte Analyse signifikanter Phosphorbelastungen in hessischen Oberflächengewässern aus diffusen und punktuellen Quellen

Der vorliegende Band enthält den Abschlussbericht zum Kooperationsvorhaben „Modellgestützte Analyse signifikanter Phosphorbelastungen in hessischen Oberflächengewässern aus diffusen und punktuellen Quellen“. Projektbeteiligte waren das Forschungszentrum Jülich (Institut für Chemie und Dynamik der Geosphäre, ICG-4: Agrosphäre) sowie das Hessische Landesamt für Umwelt und Geologie (HLUG). Ziel war es, innerhalb der kurzen Laufzeit von einem Jahr eine umfassende Modellierung der mittleren jährlichen Phosphoreinträge über die Pfade Erosion, Abschwemmung, Dränagen, Grundwasser, Mischwasserentlastung, Trennkanalisation, Industrie und Kläranlagen für das gesamte Bundesland Hessen durchzuführen. Die Ergebnisse werden zur Unterstützung bei der Erstellung von Maßnahmenprogrammen gemäß EG-Wasserrahmenrichtlinie eingesetzt