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C. Gao, C. Ftaclas (Physics Department, Michigan Tech), C. Shelton, N. Turner (Mount Wilson Observatory)
We have modified the visible light, adaptive optics camera at Mount Wilson to include a coronagraphic channel. In our implementation, the central portion of the stellar image, instead of being occulted is sent to the wavefront sensor for control the adaptive system. The system can be brought on line by simple beam steering and several possible focal plane/wavefront sensor splits are possible to accommodate different seeing conditions. The way the system has been designed it is possible to add a spectroscopic capability to the coronagraphic focal plane. We will present details of the modifications and the current instrument design as well as observational results and future work.
CF and CG wish to thank the NSF for their support of this project.