The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey

Directly taking images of exoplanets, which are faint and orbit extremely close to their bright host stars, is challening. Additionally, ground based telescopes are affected by atmospheric turbulence which smears out the light from stars and planets, making it even harder to discern a planet from its host star. 

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is an advanced science instrument that exploits the latest generation of adaptive optics technology, coronagraphy and detectors to be able to correct for atmospheric turbulence, suppress the light of the star, and image young Jupiter-like exoplanets. We have commissioned GPI at the Gemini South telescope in Chile and in 2014 we started a five-year science program called GPIES (GPI Exoplanet Survey) that targeted 600 nearby stars for the presence of young giant planets. The survey discovered 51 Eridani b, the most Jupiter-like exoplanet ever imaged.

Another object of GPIES is to image and characterize debris disks, which are rings of rocky rubble similar to our own Kuiper Belt. The morphologies of debris disks are often the indirect signposts for unseen planets, which are too faint to be imaged directly. However, the gravitational pull of these unseen planets perturbs the morphology of the debris disks, allowing us to infer the presence of a planet and study its dynamical interactions. In some cases, such as with HD 106906, we are able to image the debris disk and its gas giant planet simultaneously.

GPI is being upgraded by the team to improve its performance and will be re-commissioned on Gemini North in 2025, after which we will continue searching for planets and disks around young stars.