Numerical modelling of the planetary adaptive optics mode of AOC, the adaptive optics project at Calern observatory

Description

The AOC (Adaptive Optics at Calern) project is an adaptive optics bench being installed on one of the two 1-m telescopes of C2PU (Centre Pédagogique Planète Univers), situated in the Calern observatory, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, near Nice (France). AOC is installed at the Coudé focus of the telescope, and aims at working in the visible and near-infrared wavebands. The system is designed to work both in a standard stellar mode and in a more innovative planetary mode. Various visible and near-infrared outputs are provided, so that AOC can be used upstream of a number of scientific instruments. Early scientific applications are, on the one hand, development of post-AO short-exposure processing techniques (when used in the framework of the HiPIC project up to ∼1600 nm), and, on the other hand, Jupiter oscillations (when used upstream of the JIVE/JOVIAL instrument at 519.6 nm). In addition to testing other concepts for imaging and interferometry, the facility will also be used for academic purposes, for instance in the framework of the Master program MAUCA. In this article we present the current status of the instrument, and in particular regarding the numerical modelling studies of its planetary wavefront sensing mode, with application to Mars and Jupiter.

Abstract

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