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L. Petro, M. Clampin (STScI), H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC), C. Ftaclas (MTU), A. Ghez (UCLA), D. Golimowski (JHU), J. Grunsfield (NASA's JSC), G. Hartig (STScI), S. Heap (NASA's GSFC), L. Hillenbrand (Caltech), E. Hoffman (MSU), W. Jaffe (Leiden), R. Kimble (NASA's GSFC), J. Krist (STScI), D. Lin (UCSC), J. Nelson (UCO), W. B. Sparks (STScI), E. van Dishoeck (Leiden), S. Vogt (UCO)
Jovian Planet Finder (JPF) employs an optical coronagraphic telescope with supersmooth optics and high throughput to obtain unprecedented contrast near bright point sources. For example, JPF is natural background limited for stars fainter than V = 7.5 at all field angles, and for 5th mag stars beyond 3 arcsec. This capability will be applied to the detection of Exo-Jovian Planets (EJPs), which are typically 1E9 fainter than their parental star; the measurement of circumstellar dust disks throughout their evolution; the detection of Brown Dwarf companions; and the study of host galaxies of AGN. The planet search program will comprise 40 nearby stars of spectral types A – K, including emission line stars. Depending upon stellar distance and brightness, JPF will detect EJPs in 1 – 50 AU orbits. Disks one-tenth the mass of the Beta Pic disk will be detectable to 500 pc. The optically thick, face-on TW Hya disk will be detectable to 250 pc, enabling surveys of nearby star-forming regions. Nearby disks detected by SIRTF will be imaged with ~1 AU resolution, potentially revealing planetary resonant structures. Exo-zodiacal dust disks 10 –100 times the mass of Solar System zodiacal dust will be detectable around the ten nearest stars. Brown dwarfs with masses as low as a few MJupiter and as old as a few Gyr will be detectable in an hour, enabling an extensive survey that will contribute to studies of the Mass-Luminosity relation. Application of JPF’s high contrast capability to AGN will allow the determination of the morphology and luminosity of host galaxies, and the study of their possible variation in the redshift range z = 0.3 – 1.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: petro@stsci.edu