ESPI has been proposed for direct imaging and spectral analysis of giant planets orbiting solar-type stars. ESPI extends the concept suggested by Nisenson and Papaliolios (2001) for a square aperture apodized telescope that has sufficient dynamic range to directly detect exo-planets. With a 1.5 M square mirror, ESPI can deliver high dynamic range imagery as close as 0.3 arcseconds to bright sources, permitting a sensitive search for exoplanets around nearby stars and a study of their characteristics in reflected light.
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