Abstract

ESO, in collaboration with the Breakthrough Initiatives and international team, has been working to modify the Very Large Telescope mid-IR imager (VISIR) to greatly enhance its ability to search for potentially habitable planets around both components of the binary Alpha Centauri, part of the closest stellar system to the Earth (PI: Markus Kasper, ESO). The concept combines adaptive optics using the deformable secondary mirror at Unit Telescope 4, a new vortex coronagraph optimized for the most sensitive spectral bandpass in the N-band, and a novel internal chopper system for noise filtering based on a concept for longer wavelengths invented by the microwave pioneer Robert Dicke. On behalf of the NEAR team, here I report on the preliminary results of the nearly 100-hour observing campaign which took place in June 2019.