We present the results of 938 speckle measures of double stars and suspected double stars drawn mainly from the Hipparcos Catalogue, as well as 208 observations where no companion was noted. One hundred fourteen pairs have been resolved for the first time. The data were obtained during four observing runs in 2014 using the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI) at Lowell Observatory's Discovery Channel Telescope. The measurement precision obtained when comparing to ephemeris positions of binaries with very well-known orbits is generally less than 2 mas in separation and 0.5 degrees in position angle. Differential photometry is found to have internal precision of approximately 0.1 magnitudes and to be in very good agreement with Hipparcos measures in cases where the comparison is most relevant. We also estimate the detection limit in the cases where no companion was found. Visual orbital elements are derived for 6 systems.
We present 248 speckle observations of 43 binary and 19 trinary star systems chosen to make progress in two main areas of investigation: the fundamental properties of metal poor stars and star formation mechanisms. The observations were taken at the Gemini North and South telescopes during the period 2015 July to 2018 April, mainly with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI), but also with a few early results from the new 'Alopeke speckle camera at Gemini North. We find that the astrometry and photometry of these observations as a whole are consistent with previous work at Gemini. W…
This paper details speckle observations of binary stars taken at the Lowell Discovery Telescope, the WIYN Telescope, and the Gemini telescopes between 2016 January and 2019 September. The observations taken at Gemini and Lowell were done with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI), and those done at WIYN were taken with the successor instrument to DSSI at that site, the NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet Star and Speckle Imager (NESSI). In total, we present 378 observations of 178 systems and we show that the uncertainty in the measurement precision for the combined data set is ~2 mas in separati…
In an effort to better understand the details of the stellar structure and evolution of metal poor stars, the Gemini North telescope was used on two occasions to take speckle imaging data of a sample of known spectroscopic binary stars and other nearby stars in order to search for and resolve close companions. The observations were obtained using the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument, which takes data in two filters simultaneously. The results presented here are of 90 observations of 23 systems in which one or more companions was detected, and 6 stars where no companion was detected to th…
We report on speckle observations of binary stars carried out at the WIYN Telescope over the period from September 2010 through February 2012, providing relative astrometry for 2521 observations of 883 objects, 856 of which are double stars and 27 of which are triples. The separations measured span a range of 0.01 to 1.75 arc seconds. Wavelengths of 562 nm, 692 nm, and 880 nm were used, and differential photometry at one or more of these wavelengths is presented in most cases. Sixty-six components were resolved for the first time. We also estimate detection limits at 0.2 and 1.0 arc seconds fo…
The results of speckle interferometric observations at the 4.1 m SOAR telescope in 2016 and 2017 are given, totaling 2483 measurements of 1570 resolved pairs and 609 non-resolutions. We describe briefly recent changes in the instrument and observing method and quantify the accuracy of the pixel scale and position angle calibration. Comments are given on 44 pairs resolved here for the first time. Orbital motion of the newly resolved subsystem BU~83 Aa,Ab roughly agrees with its 36 year astrometric orbit proposed by J.~Dommanget. Most Tycho binaries examined here turned out to be spurious.
We present high-resolution speckle interferometric imaging observations of TESS exoplanet host stars using the NN-EXPLORE NESSI instrument the at the 3.5-m WIYN telescope. Eight TOIs, that were originally discovered by Kepler, were previously observed using the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI). Speckle observations of 186 TESS stars were carried out and 45 (24%) likely bound companions were detected. This is approximately the number of companions we would expect to observe given the established 46% binarity rate in exoplanet host stars. For the detected binaries, the distribution …
We report 370 measures of 170 components of binary and multiple star systems, obtained from speckle imaging observations made with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument at Lowell Observatory's Discovery Channel Telescope in 2015 through 2017. Of the systems studied, 147 are binary stars, 10 are seen as triple systems, and 1 quadruple system is measured. Seventy-six high-quality non-detections and fifteen newly resolved components are presented in our observations. The uncertainty in relative astrometry appears to be similar to our previous work at Lowell, namely linear measurement uncerta…
We report the direct imaging discovery of a low-mass companion to the nearby accelerating A star, HIP 109427, with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument coupled with the MKID Exoplanet Camera (MEC) and CHARIS integral field spectrograph. CHARIS data reduced with reference star PSF subtraction yield 1.1-2.4 $μ$m spectra. MEC reveals the companion in $Y$ and $J$ band at a comparable signal-to-noise ratio using stochastic speckle discrimination, with no PSF subtraction techniques. Combined with complementary follow-up $L_{\rm p}$ photometry from Keck/NIRC2, the SCEx…
We report results of speckle-interferometric monitoring of visual hierarchical systems using the newly commissioned instrument NESSI at the 3.5-m WIYN telescope. During one year, 390 measurements of 129 resolved subsystems were made, while some targets were unresolved. Using our astrometry and archival data, we computed 36 orbits (27 for the first time). Spectro-interferometric orbits of seven pairs are determined by combining positional measurements with radial velocities measured, mostly, with the Center for Astrophysics digital speedometers. For the hierarchical systems HIP 65026 (periods 4…
Astronomers have been measuring the separations and position angles between the two components of binary stars since William Herschel began his observations in 1781. In 1970, Anton Labeyrie pioneered a method, speckle interferometry, that overcomes the usual resolution limits induced by atmospheric turbulence by taking hundreds or thousands of short exposures and reducing them in Fourier space. Our 2022 automation of speckle interferometry allowed us to use a fully robotic 1.0-meter PlaneWave Instruments telescope, located at the El Sauce Observatory in the Atacama Desert of Chile, to obtain o…
Polarimetric interferometry is a method allowing the study of the distribution of polarized flux at diffraction-limited resolution. Its basic observable is the ratio $\mathcal{R}$ of the visibilities of the object in two orthogonal polarizations. Here, we demonstrate how this observables can be measured with the SPeckle Polarimeter (SPP) of the 2.5-m telescope. The SPP is a combination of a dual-beam polarimeter and an EMCCD-based visible-range speckle interferometer. We propose a simple method for the correction of $\mathcal{R}$ for the instrumental polarization and polarization differential …
We conducted speckle imaging observations of 53 stellar systems that were members of long-term radial velocity (RV) monitoring campaigns and exhibited substantial accelerations indicative of planetary or stellar companions in wide orbits. Our observations were made with blue and red filters using the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument at Gemini-South and the NN-Explore Exoplanet Stellar Speckle Imager at the WIYN telescope. The speckle imaging identifies eight luminous companions within two arcseconds of the primary stars. In three of these systems (HD 1388, HD 87359, and HD 104304), the p…
The POKEMON Speckle Survey of Nearby M Dwarfs. II. Observations of 1125 Targets
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology(加州理工学院喷气推进实验室);NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, IPAC, California Institute of Technology(加州理工学院NASA系外行星科学研究所/IPAC);Lowell Observatory(洛厄尔天文台);Southern Connecticut State University(南康涅狄格州立大学);Bridgewater State University(布里奇沃特州立大学);NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory(美国国家光学-红外天文研究实验室);Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab(双子座天文台/美国国家光学-红外天文研究实验室)
The red giant L2 Pup started a dimming event in 1994, which is considered to be caused by the ejection of dust clouds. We present near-IR aperture-synthesis imaging of L2 Pup achieved by combining data from VLT/NACO speckle observations and long-baseline interferometric observations with the AMBER instrument of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). We also extracted an 8.7 micron image from the mid-IR VLTI instrument MIDI. Our aim is to spatially resolve the innermost region of the circumstellar environment. The diffraction-limited image at 2.27 micron obtained by bispectrum speckle …
Paving the Road to the Habitable Worlds Observatory with High-Resolution Imaging I: New and Archival Speckle Observations of Potential HWO Target Stars
The 24 Aqr triple system: A closer look at its unique high-eccentricity hierarchical architecture
Al-Hussein Bin Talal University(侯赛因·本·塔拉勒大学);University of Sharjah(沙迦大学);Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology(沙迦天文学、空间科学与技术学院);Al al-Bayt University(阿尔拜特大学);Southern Connecticut State University(南康涅狄格州立大学);New York University Abu Dhabi(纽约大学阿布扎比分校)
The precise radial velocity technique is a cornerstone of exoplanetary astronomy. Astronomers measure Doppler shifts in the star's spectral features, which track the line-of/sight gravitational accelerations of a star caused by the planets orbiting it. The method has its roots in binary star astronomy, and exoplanet detection represents the low-companion-mass limit of that application. This limit requires control of several effects of much greater magnitude than the signal sought: the motion of the telescope must be subtracted, the instrument must be calibrated, and spurious Doppler shifts "ji…
Radial velocity (RV) searches for exoplanets have surveyed many of the nearest and brightest stars for long-term velocity variations indicative of a companion body. Such surveys often detect high-amplitude velocity signatures of objects that lie outside the planetary mass regime, most commonly those of a low-mass star. Such stellar companions are frequently discarded as false-alarms to the main science goals of the survey, but high-resolution imaging techniques can be employed to either directly detect or place significant constraints on the nature of the companion object. Here, we present the…