Magazine Article

Partially Transparent Petaled Mask/Occulter for Visible-Range Spectrum

TBMG-17462

10/01/2013

Abstract
Content

The presence of the Poisson Spot, also known as the spot of Arago, has been known since the 18th century. This spot is the consequence of constructive interference of light diffracted by the edge of the obstacle where the central position can be determined by symmetry of the object. More recently, many NASA missions require the suppression of this spot in the visible range. For instance, the exoplanetary missions involving space telescopes require telescopes to image the planetary bodies orbiting central stars. For this purpose, the starlight needs to be suppressed by several orders of magnitude in order to image the reflected light from the orbiting planet. For the Earth-like planets, this suppression needs to be at least ten orders of magnitude. One of the common methods of suppression involves sharp binary petaled occulters envisioned to be placed many thousands of miles away from the telescope blocking the starlight.

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Citation
"Partially Transparent Petaled Mask/Occulter for Visible-Range Spectrum," Mobility Engineering, October 1, 2013.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Oct 1, 2013
Product Code
TBMG-17462
Content Type
Magazine Article
Language
English