[en] From the viewpoint of direct imaging of exoplanets in the visible or infrared, exozodi dust disks can be both good and bad. An exozodi disk is good if it has structures (cleared regions or resonant clumps) that suggest the gravitational presence of planets, however it is bad if the dust fills the instrumental field of view with brightness that swamps the signal from a planet. Unfortunately, it takes very little dust to compete with or overwhelm the light from a planet: an Earth‐twin signal is roughly equal to a 0.1‐AU patch of Solar‐System‐twin zodi, in the visible or infrared. Thus, exozodi measurements are extremely important, but they are also difficult to make. Current limits of detection, in units of the Solar‐System brightness, are a few hundred using the Spitzer Space Telescope, about one hundred with the Keck Interferometer (KI), and about 10 expected from the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI). A small coronagraph or small interferometer in space is needed in order to reach the sensitivity required to detect the glow at the level of our own Solar System.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Hinz, Phillip
Millan-Gabet, Rafael
Defrere, Denis ; Université de Liège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Astroph. extragalactique et observations spatiales (AEOS)
Other collaborator :
Absil, Olivier ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Astroph. extragalactique et observations spatiales (AEOS)