P. Assus

KEOPS: Kiloparsec Explorer for Optical Planet Search, a direct-imaging optical array at Dome C of Antarctica

Recent site seeing testing campaigns conducted by our team from University of Nice1 show that Dome C represents the best site on Earth for astronomical high angular resolution (HAR) observations at optical and IR wavelengths. The dramatic gain over relevant HAR parameters r0, L0, θ0 and τ0, added to very low temperatures during the polar winter nights (-70°C), the dry atmosphere and the possibility of continuous observations during several nights make Dome C the ideal site for deploying a kilometric optical interferometer before the 2015 horizon. Here we describe the concept of Kiloparsec Explorer for Optical Planet Search (KEOPS) that is studied by our group at LUAN. KEOPS is an interferometric array of 36 off-axis telescopes, each 1.5m in diameter. Its kilometric baselines open sub-mas snap-shot imaging possibilities to detect and characterize extra-solar planetary systems, especially exo-Earths out to 300 parsecs from the visible to the thermal IR. KEOPS can be considered as a DARWIN/TPF challenger but at a much lower cost.

The solar seeing monitor MISOLFA: presentation and first results

PICARD is a space mission developed to observe the Sun at high angular resolution. One of the main space objectives of PICARD is to measure the solar diameter with few milli arc-seconds accuracy. A replica of the space instrument will be installed at Calern Observatory in order to test our ability to make such measurement from ground with enough accuracy. High angular resolution observations with ground-based instrument are however limited by atmospheric turbulence. The seeing monitor MISOLFA is developed to give all observation conditions at the same moments when solar images will be recorded with the twin PICARD instruments. They will be used to link ground and space measurements. An overview of the PICARD mission and the solar ground-based experiments will be ¯rst given. Optical properties of MISOLFA will be after presented. The basic principles to measure atmospheric parameters and the methods used to obtain them from solar images will be given. Finally, some recent results obtained at Calern Observatory will be presented and discussed.

PICARD SOL mission, a ground-based facility for long-term solar radius measurement

For the last thirty years, ground time series of the solar radius have shown different variations according to different instruments. The origin of these variations may be found in the observer, the instrument, the atmosphere and the Sun. These time series show inconsistencies and conflicting results, which likely originate from instrumental effects and/or atmospheric effects. A survey of the solar radius was initiated in 1975 by F. Laclare, at the Calern site of the Observatoire de la Cˆote d’Azur (OCA). PICARD is an investigation dedicated to the simultaneous measurements of the absolute total and spectral solar irradiance, the solar radius and solar shape, and to the Sun’s interior probing by the helioseismology method. The PICARD mission aims to the study of the origin of the solar variability and to the study of the relations between the Sun and the Earth’s climate by using modeling. These studies will be based on measurements carried out from orbit and from the ground. PICARD SOL is the ground segment of the PICARD mission to allow a comparison of the solar radius measured in space and on ground. PICARD SOL will enable to understand the influence of the atmosphere on the measured solar radius. The PICARD Sol instrumentation consists of: SODISM II, a replica of SODISM (SOlar Diameter Imager and Surface Mapper), a high resolution imaging telescope, and MISOLFA (Moniteur d’Images SOLaires Franco-Alg´erien), a seeing monitor. Additional instrumentation consists in a Sun photometer, which measures atmospheric aerosol properties, a pyranometer to measure the solar irradiance, a visible camera, and a weather station. PICARD SOL is operating since March 2011. First results from the PICARD SOL mission are briefly reported in this paper.

Atmospheric seeing measurements obtained with MISOLFA in the framework of the PICARD Mission

PICARD is a space mission launched in June 2010 to study mainly the geometry of the Sun. The PICARD mission has a ground program consisting mostly in four instruments based at the Calern Observatory (Observatoire de la Cˆote d’Azur). They allow recording simultaneous solar images and various atmospheric data from ground. The ground instruments consist in the qualification model of the PICARD space instrument (SODISM II: Solar Diameter Imager and Surface Mapper), standard sun-photometers, a pyranometer for estimating a global sky quality index, and MISOLFA a generalized daytime seeing monitor. Indeed, astrometric observations of the Sun using ground-based telescopes need an accurate modeling of optical effects induced by atmospheric turbulence. MISOLFA is founded on the observation of Angle-of-Arrival (AA) fluctuations and allows us to analyze atmospheric turbulence optical effects on measurements performed by SODISM II. It gives estimations of the coherence parameters characterizing wave-fronts degraded by the atmospheric turbulence (Fried parameter r0, size of the isoplanatic patch, the spatial coherence outer scale L0 and atmospheric correlation times). We present in this paper simulations showing how the Fried parameter infered from MISOLFA records can be used to interpret radius measurements extracted from SODISM II images. We show an example of daily and monthly evolution of r0 and present its statistics over 2 years at Calern Observatory with a global mean value of 3.5cm.

Stray light in PICARD SODISM instrument: design, check, flight results, and alignment issues

The PICARD satellite is dedicated to the monitoring of solar activity. It carries several imaging and radiometric instruments. One of them, SODISM, is a high-resolution radio-imaging telescope measuring the Sun diameter and total flux in near UV and visible wavelengths. Along with mirrors, SODISM includes highly reflective filters and attenuators, which generate ghost images. These disturb the Sun edge area, the total flux measurement and also the fine aiming channel. This is compounded with tilt tolerances, which shift and modify the ghosts images. Stray light was studied through ASAP simulation, with broad sources and high order splits. Each path was studied separately, checking its effect on instrument performance and the possible effect of tilts. Some design improvements allowed to reduce the most critical paths, while others, although relatively intense, stood clear from the critical areas. However ground tests and flight results show some residual ghosts, which could not be fully suppressed due to mechanical tolerances. They shall be taken into account by image processing.

CIAXE: Co-Axial Achromatic Interferential Coronagraph. First laboratory results

In 1996, Jean Gay and Yves Rabbia presented their Achromatic Interferential Coronagraph (AIC) for detecting and imaging faint companions (ultimately exoplanets) in the neighboring of a star. As presented then, the Michleson-like Interferometer configuration of the AIC hardens its insertion into an existing (coaxial) optical train, the output beam of the AIC being delivered at right angle from the input beam. To overcome this, they reconfigured the AIC into a compact and fully axial coronagraph, the CIAXE, which main feature consists of using two thick lenses machined in the same optical material. For the CIAXE to deliver the output beam along the same axis as the input beam, the two lenses are coaxially disposed on the optical axis and are separated, at their common spherical contact surface by a thin air gap acting like a beam splitter. We have set up a laboratory experiment aiming at validating the principle of the concept. Our first step was to equalize the thicknesses of the two lenses, so as to make zero the optical path difference between both arms. For this, the (residual) value of the OPD has been evaluated and then the lenses have been re-machined so as to decrease as far as technologically possible, the thicknesses mismatch. As a second step, a micro-controlled rotation around the common curvature center of the spherical surfaces of the lenses is applied. This allows a fine tuning of the residual OPD at the required accuracy level. Are presented here test bench, steps and results.