HD 165054: An Astrometric Calibration Field for High-Contrast Imagers in Baade's Window

Authors

Meiji M. Nguyen, University of California, Berkeley
Robert J. De Rosa, European Southern Observatory Santiago
Robert J. De Rosa, European Southern Observatory Santiago
Jason J. Wang, California Institute of Technology
Thomas M. Esposito, University of California, Berkeley
Paul Kalas, University of California, Berkeley
Paul Kalas, University of California, Berkeley
James R. Graham, University of California, Berkeley
Bruce MacIntosh, Stanford University
Vanessa P. Bailey, California Institute of Technology
Travis Barman, The University of Arizona
Joanna Bulger, University Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
Joanna Bulger, University Hawaii Institute for Astronomy
Jeffrey Chilcote, University of Notre Dame
Tara Cotten, University of Georgia
Rene Doyon, Institut de Recherche sur les Exoplanètes
Gaspard Duchêne, University of California, Berkeley
Gaspard Duchêne, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG)
Michael P. Fitzgerald, University of California, Los Angeles
Katherine B. Follette, Amherst College
Benjamin L. Gerard, University of Victoria
Benjamin L. Gerard, University of Victoria
Stephen J. Goodsell, Gemini Observatory
Alexandra Z. Greenbaum, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Pascale Hibon, European Southern Observatory Santiago
Justin Hom, School of Earth and Space Exploration
Li Wei Hung, US National Park Service
Patrick Ingraham, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
Quinn Konopacky, Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences
James E. Larkin, University of California, Los Angeles
Jérôme Maire, Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences
Franck Marchis, SETI Institute
Kimberly Ward-Duong, Amherst CollegeFollow
et al, Various Institutions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2020

Publication Title

Astronomical Journal

Abstract

We present a study of the HD 165054 astrometric calibration field that has been periodically observed with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). HD 165054 is a bright star within Baade's Window, a region of the galactic plane with relatively low extinction from interstellar dust. HD 165054 was selected as a calibrator target due to the high number density of stars within this region (?3 stars per square arcsecond with H < 22), necessary because of the small field of view of the GPI. Using nine epochs spanning over five years, we have fit a standard five-parameter astrometric model to the astrometry of seven background stars within close proximity to HD 165054 (? < 2?). We achieved a proper motion precision of ?0.3 mas yr-1 and constrained the parallax of each star to be ?1 mas. Our measured proper motions and parallax limits are consistent with the background stars being a part of the galactic bulge. Using these measurements, we find no evidence of any systematic trend of either the plate scale or the north angle offset of GPI between 2014 and 2019. We compared our model describing the motions of the seven background stars to observations of the same field in 2014 and 2018 obtained with Keck/NIRC2, an instrument with excellent astrometric calibration. We find that the predicted position of the background sources is consistent with that measured by NIRC2, within the uncertainties of the calibration of the two instruments. In the future, we will use this field as a standard astrometric calibrator for the upgrade of GPI and potentially for other high-contrast imagers.

Keywords

figure set

Volume

159

Issue

6

DOI

10.3847/1538-3881/ab86aa

ISSN

00046256

Rights

© 2020. The American Astronomical Society

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Nguyen, Meiji M.; De Rosa, Robert J.; De Rosa, Robert J.; Wang, Jason J.; Esposito, Thomas M.; Kalas, Paul; Kalas, Paul; Graham, James R.; MacIntosh, Bruce; Bailey, Vanessa P.; Barman, Travis; Bulger, Joanna; Bulger, Joanna; Chilcote, Jeffrey; Cotten, Tara; Doyon, Rene; Duchêne, Gaspard; Duchêne, Gaspard; Fitzgerald, Michael P.; Follette, Katherine B.; Gerard, Benjamin L.; Gerard, Benjamin L.; Goodsell, Stephen J.; Greenbaum, Alexandra Z.; Hibon, Pascale; Hom, Justin; Hung, Li Wei; Ingraham, Patrick; Konopacky, Quinn; Larkin, James E.; Maire, Jérôme; Marchis, Franck; Ward-Duong, Kimberly; and al, et, "HD 165054: An Astrometric Calibration Field for High-Contrast Imagers in Baade's Window" (2020). Astronomy: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ast_facpubs/109