High-Contrast Observations with an Integral Field Spectrograph

• Main Author: Zimmerman, Neil Thomas
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Astronomy
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7916/D8GM8F91

This thesis is comprised of work carried out during the commissioning phase of Project 1640, a combined coronagraph--integral field spectrograph for Palomar Observatory's adaptive optics-equipped 200'' Hale Telescope. I have divided my investigations into three chapters. First, I describe the data reduction pipeline software, which solves a number of data extraction and calibration challenges unique to this kind of instrument. In the second chapter, I demonstrate a novel method for faint companion discovery which takes advantage of the high-precision relative astrometry enabled by a pupil plane reticle grid. This tool, in combination with the spectrophotometric capability of the integral field spectrograph, reveal that the A5V star Alcor has a heretofore unknown M-dwarf companion. In my third chapter, I explore the suitability of combining the non-redundant aperture mask interferometry technique with an integral field spectrograph. In the proof-of-concept observation of the spectroscopic binary star Beta CrB, I retrieve the first near-infrared spectrum of its F-dwarf companion.