Design of Pure and Hybrid Occulter Systems for THEIA
Abstract
The proposed THEIA mission is an effort to image terrestrial planets around other stars using a space-based telescope and an occulter flying in formation. This system is known as a "hybrid" system, as it proposes to use both the occulter and an apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph in the telescope to suppress the starlight; it is contrasted with a "pure" occulter system, which does all of the starlight suppression with the occulter. We present a general procedure for creating a hybrid system, and compare the size, distance, and alignment tolerances with a pure occulter system of comparable performance specifications.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #213
- Pub Date:
- January 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AAS...21345805C