Adaptive optics is a prime example of how progress in observational astronomy can be
driven by technological developments. At many observatories it is now considered to be part …

This chapter reviews various methods of detecting planetary companions to stars from an
observational perspective, focusing on radial velocities, astrometry, direct imaging, transits …

We present the scientific performance results of pynpoint, our Python-based software
package that uses principal component analysis to detect and estimate the flux of …

In recent years, there has been intensive research into the direct detection of exoplanets.
Data obtained in the future with high-contrast imaging instruments, optimized for the direct …

The formation of clouds affects brown dwarf and planetary atmospheres of nearly all
effective temperatures. Iron and silicate condense in L dwarf atmospheres and dissipate at …

The SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) planet finder
instrument for ESO's VLT telescope, scheduled for first light in 2011, aims to detect giant …

Aims. We present the performance of the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) of SPHERE, the
high-contrast imager for the ESO VLT telescope designed to perform imaging and …

We quantify the scientific potential for exoplanet imaging with the mid-infrared E-ELT Imager
and Spectrograph (METIS) foreseen as one of the instruments of the European Extremely …

Small-angle coronagraphy is technically and scientifically appealing because it enables the
use of smaller telescopes, allows covering wider wavelength ranges, and potentially …

We present results of numerical simulations of flux F and degree of polarization P of light that
is reflected by Earth–like extrasolar planets orbiting solar type stars. Our results are …