The Lyot project coronagraph: data processing and performance analysis

¹ American Museum of Natural History, Department of Astrophysics, 79th Street at Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, USA
² Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
³ Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
⁴ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
⁵ Department of Astronomy, 601 Campbell Hall, University of California Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
⁶ The Boeing Company, 535 Lipoa Parkway, Suite 200, Kihei, HI 96753, USA
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA

Abstract

In this communication we illustrate the main steps required for the preprocessing of the Lyot Project Coronagraph data, starting from the raw data to the reduced data. We then discuss the estimation of the performance on direct, unocculted data, by measuring the Strehl Ratio on these images. We show that Strehl Ratios of the order of 80% can be obtained for the best images in the H Band, using the AEOS telescope adaptive optics, and the Kermit infrared camera. We then present a few methods to estimate the dynamic range in coronagraphic images, and their results are discussed.