WFIRST-AFTA Coronagraphic Operations: Lessons Learned from the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope

John H. Debes, Marie Ygouf, Elodie Choquet, Dean C. Hines, Marshall Perrin, David A. Golimowski, Charles-Phillipe Lajoie, Johan Mazoyer, Laurent Pueyo, Remi Soummer, Roeland van der Marel
(Submitted on 19 Nov 2015)

The coronagraphic instrument currently proposed for the WFIRST-AFTA mission will be the first example of a space-based coronagraph optimized for extremely high contrasts that are required for the direct imaging of exoplanets reflecting the light of their host star. While the design of this instrument is still in progress, this early stage of development is a particularly beneficial time to consider the operation of such an instrument. In this paper, we review current or planned operations on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with a focus on which operational aspects will have relevance to the planned WFIRST-AFTA coronagraphic instrument. We identify five key aspects of operations that will require attention: 1) detector health and evolution, 2) wavefront control, 3) observing strategies/post-processing, 4) astrometric precision/target acquisition, and 5) polarimetry. We make suggestions on a path forward for each of these items.

Comments: 52 pages, 8 Figures, to appear in the Special WFIRST-AFTA JATIS Coronagraphic Instrument Issue
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:1511.06277 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:1511.06277v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
Submission history
From: John H. Debes
[v1] Thu, 19 Nov 2015 17:41:32 GMT (3251kb)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.06277