Abstract

We present the results from a survey of stars with “holey disks” obtained at VLT/NACO and the apodized phase plate coronagraph. We demonstrate that these disks with holes are good targets for directly detecting planets with the recent discovery of a planet around two of our targets, HD 95086 and HD 106906, at L'-band. For HD 95086, the non-detection in H-band demonstrates the importance of thermal infrared observations. The detected planets shepherd the outer cool debris belt. The relatively dust-free gap in these disks implies the presence of one or more closer-in planets. We discuss our new constraints on planets around other targets in our survey as well as disk properties of these targets and describe how future instruments such as METIS will find the inner planets.

Presentation

Talk slides - PDF