Pegase: a space interferometer for the spectro-photometry of Pegasides
Technology roadmap for future interferometric facilities, Proceedings of the European Interferometry Initiative Workshop organized in the context of the 2005 Join European and National Astronomy Meeting "Distant Worlds", 6 - 8 July 2005, Liège University, Institute of Astrophysics, Edited by J. Surdej, D. Caro, and A. Detal
Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Belgium
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France
Alcatel Space, Cannes, France
Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
ONERA, Châtillon, France
École Normale Supérieure, Lyon, France
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Grenoble, France
Observatoire de Genève, Switzerland
Insituto des Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain
Abstract
Pegase is an answer to the CNES call for ideas for a scientific payload on its Formation Flying technological mission. It proposes a Bracewell interferometer operating in the infrared (1.5 - 6 micro-m) and visible regimes. It has small telescopes (40 cm)but a substantial baseline (25 to 500 m). Its angular resolution reaches 1~milli-arcsecond at4 microns and 100 micro-arcsecond at 0.4 micro-m. Its main scientific objectives are the spectroscopic study of weak companions including Pegasides (hot giant exoplanets) and brown dwarfs bounded to other stars, with the goal to determine the composition of the atmospheres of these objects as well as their internal structure. In the present paper, we present a general overview of the science goals and the preliminary design of the instrument, and eventually give an estimate of its expected performance.