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Ground-Based Direct Detection of Exoplanets with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI)

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 نشر من قبل James R. Graham
 تاريخ النشر 2007
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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 تأليف James R. Graham




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The Gemini Planet (GPI) imager is an extreme adaptive optics system being designed and built for the Gemini Observatory. GPI combines precise and accurate wavefront control, diffraction suppression, and a speckle-suppressing science camera with integral field and polarimetry capabilities. GPIs primary science goal is the direct detection and characterization of young, Jovian-mass exoplanets. For systems younger than 2 Gyr exoplanets more massive than 6 MJ and semimajor axes beyond 10 AU are detected with completeness greater than 50%. GPI will also discover faint debris disks, explore icy moons and minor planets in the solar system, reveal high dynamic range main-sequence binaries, and study mass loss from evolved stars. This white paper explains the role of GPI in exoplanet discovery and characterization and summarizes our recommendations to the NSF-NASA-DOE Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee ExoPlanet Task Force.

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