Page: SPHERE (ESO)
With its first light successfully gathered I think that this instrument deserve its own topic.
This instrument is similar to the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) and its prime scientific objective is the discovery and study of extra-solar planets
(mostly giants, but for closest stars even super-earths are possible under very fortunate conditions).
Another objectives are proto-planetary disks, brown dwarfs, evolved massive stars, Solar System and extragalactic science.
SPHERE has three instruments:
- The Infra-Red Dual-beam Imaging and Spectroscopy (IRDIS) - NIR imager and spectrograph.
- The Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) - NIR spectrograph.
- The Zurich Imaging Polarimeter (ZIMPOL) - visible/NIR imaging polarimeter.
There are four images from SPHERE which were published as results of "first light" observations -
Image of Titan at 1.59 microns:
Images of Titan with polarimetric mode (and in visible light):
Dusty ring around the star HR 4796A:
A very low mass companion star to Iota Sagitarii from IRDIS (left image) and IFS (right image):
All images credit: ESO/J.-L. Beuzit et al./SPHERE Consortium