Exoplanets Revealed: High Contrast Integral Field Spectroscopy at Palomar Observatory

Sasha Hinkley博士被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在加州理工学院开展研究和教育计划。 在这个项目中，该研究员将使用最近在帕洛玛天文台委托的新仪器对附近恒星周围的系外行星进行高对比度成像调查。 该仪器是一个与日冕仪相结合的积分场光谱仪，与Palomar自适应光学系统一起工作，以获得系外行星的高对比度图像和光谱。 这位研究员是这种仪器的主要设计师之一，这是第一种，也是北方半球唯一的一种。 该研究员将使用这套仪器对附近的A和F星进行高对比度的自适应光学调查，目的是获得几个木星质量的系外行星的图像和光谱。 获得这些数据将为系外行星的真实频率提供更完整的图像。 光谱信息还将使研究人员能够收集有关这些系外行星的化学，成分和热历史的信息，为比较系外行星科学的新领域打开大门。 该项目的更广泛影响包括一个重要的教育部分。 该研究员将为帕萨迪纳联合学区的高中生创建一套基于探究的物理实验室。 他将与加州理工学院大学预科科学计划（CAPSI）主任合作开发这些练习，并与当地教师和教育工作者合作实施。 CAPSI支持当地高中科学课堂探究式学习的努力是一个新生的五年计划，该研究员将开始立即做出贡献。 CAPSI计划的最终目标是创建一个地区范围的模式，将在当地和全国产生广泛的影响。

Dr. Sasha Hinkley is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the California Institute of Technology. In this project the fellow will perform a high-contrast imaging survey for exoplanets around nearby stars using a new instrument recently commissioned at Palomar Observatory. This instrument, an Integral Field Spectrogragh combined with a coronagraph, works in conjunction with the Palomar Adaptive Optics system to achieve high-contrast images and spectroscopy of exoplanets. The fellow has been one of the central architects for this instrument, the first of its kind and the only one in the Northern Hemisphere. The fellow will use this suite of instrumentation to carry out a high-contrast, adaptive optics survey of nearby A and F stars with the goal of obtaining images and spectroscopy of exoplanets of several Jupiter masses. Obtaining these data will provide a more complete picture of the true frequency of exoplanets. The spectroscopic information will also allow investigators to gather information about the chemistry, composition, and thermal histories of these exoplanets, opening the door to the new field of comparative exoplanetary science. The broader impacts of this project include a significant educational component. The fellow will create a set of inquiry-based physics laboratories for high school students in the Pasadena Unified School District. He will work with the Director of the Caltech Pre-College Science Initiative (CAPSI) to develop these exercises and work with local teachers and educators to implement them. CAPSI's effort to support inquiry-based learning in local high school science classrooms is a nascent five-year program, and the fellow will begin contributing immediately. The ultimate goal of CAPSI's program is to create a district-wide model that will have broad impacts both locally and nationally.