Planet and Star Formation
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Königstuhl 17
D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
voice: +49 6221 528 400
fax: +49 6221 528 246
jcarson @ mpia.de

Research

August 2009 discovery image of a faint companion to the solar-type star GJ 758.  With an estimated mass of 10-40 times Jupiter's mass, GJ 758 B is either a giant planet or a lightweight brown dwarf.  Its orbit is somewhat larger than Neptune's, and its temperature of 600 K makes it the coldest companion to a Sun-like star ever resolved in an image.  The companion was discovered with thermal imaging using the new planet-hunter instrument HiCIAO on the Subaru Telescope.  The image also shows a candidate second companion, labeled C in the image.  Follow-up observations are required to test if C is a true additional companion.  The discovery publication by Thalmann, Carson, Janson, Goto et al. appears in Astrophysical Journal Letters (preprint link).  

The discovery was included in Time magazine's Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2009 (link). Click here to see an official press release.  Further media coverage of this discovery can be found at BBC, MSNBC, and Time.   Click here to see an animation of the GJ 758 B likely orbit, as compared with our own solar system.  




SEEDS Exoplanet Survey                                                                       
SEEDS is a 5-year direct-imaging exoplanet survey that is using the above-mentioned Subaru Telescope's newly-commissioned HiCIAO adaptive optics, coronagraphic, differential imaging instrument to search several hundred nearby and young stars.  Joseph heads the SEEDS' sub-program to search A and B-type stars (higher-mass stars) for exoplanets.  



Substellar Companion Searches with the AKARI Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope
Joseph serves as Principal Investigator for an AKARI Space Telescope observing program to conduct deep thermal-imaging exoplanet searches around 15 nearby stars.  Joseph also leads a program that uses archival imaging data from the  Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC camera along with new ground-based imaging observations from the Calar Alto 3.5-meter Telescope, in an effort to identify wide-separation (> a couple hundred AU), ultra-cold, brown dwarf or planet mass companions to stars that are already known to harbor inner planets. 



Monte Carlo Population Simulations
Deriving accurate substellar companion statistics based on imaging data is a non-trivial process that requires considerations of observational biases (from orbital projection effects and target selection procedures) and assumptions of system characteristics like age and evolutionary tracks.  To take into account such effects, Joseph works developing Monte Carlo population simulations.  To date, these simulations have been used for population analyses of data from Spitzer IRAC, the Palomar Hale Telescope, 2MASS, the Keck I Telescope, and Lick Observatory.    



SPHERE Instrument Development   
SPHERE is an adaptive optics, coronagraphic, differential-imaging instrument designed to directly image planets around nearby and young stars.  It is scheduled to be installed around 2011 on one of the 8.2 meter unit telescopes of the Very Large Telescope array in Chile.  As part of the SPHERE instrument team, Joseph helps lead reconnaissance science observations and target selection planning.  He also works in the development of data reduction pipelines for extracting planet signatures from high-contrast imaging observations.




IDL Class - February 2008
IDL Class - December 2008

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Education

Ph.D., Astronomy, Cornell University (2005)
M.S., Astronomy, Cornell University (2003)
B.A., Physics, Pomona College (1999)

Professional Experience

º  Assistant Professor, College of Charleston (2009-present).
º  MPIA Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (2007-2010).
º  NASA NPP Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2006-2007).
º  Adjunct Professor, California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, (2006).
º  Postdoctoral Scholar, California Institute of Technology (2004-2006).

Awards and Grants

º  NASA Keck General Observing Time (PI) (2010).
º  Spitzer Space Telescope General Observing Time (co-I) (2010).
º  Hubble Space Telescope General Observing Time (co-I) (2010).
º  Spitzer Space Telescope General Observing Time (co-I) (2007).
º  JPL Innovative Spontaneous Concepts Grant (Lead-I) (2006).
º  NASA NPP Fellowship (2006).
º  NSF Major Instrumentation Grant (co-I, science team) (2006).
º  Spitzer Space Telescope General Observing Time (co-I) (2006).
º  NASA Space Grant Graduate Fellowship (2002).
º  Frank P. Brackett Prize in Astronomy, Pomona College (1999).

Publications

Crepp, J., Serabyn, E., Carson, J., Ge, J., and Kravchenko, I. (2010)
"On-Sky Demonstration of a Linear Band-Limited Mask with Application to Visual Binary Stars", Astrophysical Journal, in press.

Thalmann, C., Grady, C., Goto, M., Wisniewski, J., Janson, M., Henning, T., Fukagawa, M., Honda, M., Mulders, G., Min, M., Moro-Martin, A., McElwain, M., Hodapp, K., Carson, J. et al. (2010)
"Imaging of a Transitional Disk Gap in Reflected Light: Indications of Planet Formation Around the Young Solar Analog LkCa 15", Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press.

Narita, N., Kudo, T., Bergfors, C., Nagasawa, M., Thalmann, C., Sato, B., Suzuki, R., Kandori, R., Janson, M., Goto, M., Brandner, W., Ida, S., Abe, L., Carson, J., et al. (2010)
"Search for Outer Massive Bodies Around Transiting Planetary Systems: Candidates of Faint Stellar Companions Around HAT-P-7", Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan, in press.

Thalmann, C., Carson, J., Janson, M., Goto, M., McElwain, M., Egner, S., Feldt, M., Hashimoto, J., Hayano, Y., Henning, T., Hodapp, K., Kandori, R., Klahr, H., Kudo, T., Kusakabe, N., Mordasini, C., Morino, J.-I., Suto, H., Suzuki, R., and Tamura, M. (2009)
"Discovery of the Coldest Imaged Companion of a Sun-Like Star", Astrophysical Journal Letters, 707, 123.

Carson, J. C., Hiner, K. D., Villar, G. G., Blaschak, M. G., Rudolph, A. L. and Stapelfeldt, K. R. (2009)
"A Distance-Limited Imaging Survey of Sub-Stellar Companions to Solar Neighborhood Stars", Astronomical Journal, 137, 218.

Marengo, M., Stapelfeldt, K., Werner, M. W., Hora, J. L., Fazio, G. G., Schuster, M. T., Carson, J. C., and Megeath, S. T. (2009)
"Spitzer/IRAC Limits to Planetary Companions of Fomalhaut and Epsilon Eridani", Astrophysical Journal, 700, 1647.

Carson, J. C., Feldt, M., Desidera, S., Langlois, M., Joos, F., Mouillet, D., and Beuzit, J.-L. (2008)
"Frame Combination Techniques for Ultra High-Contrast Imaging", SPIE, 7014E, 115C.

Eikenberry, S. S., Keremedjev, M., and Carson, J. C. (2008)
"Stabilized-Speckle Integral Field Spectroscopy", SPIE, 70145P.

Keremedjev, M., Eikenberry, S. S., and Carson, J. C. (2008)
"SPIFS Performance Simulations: achieving diffraction-limited spatial resolutions for spectroscopy", SPIE, 70145Q.

Clark, D. M, Eikenberry, S. S., Brandl, B. R., Wilson, J. C., Carson, J. C. et al. (2008)
"A First Estimate of the X-Ray Binary Frequency as a Function of Star Cluster Mass in a Single Galactic System", Astrophysical Journal, 678, 798.

Clark, D. M., Eikenberry, S. S., Brandl, B. R., Wilson, J. C., Carson, J. C. et al. (2007)
"Erratum:  Infrared Counterparts to Chandra X-Ray Sources in the Antennae", Astrophysical Journal, 668, 1266C

Clark, D. M., Eikenberry, S. S., Brandl, B. R., Wilson, J. C., Carson, J. C. et al. (2007)
"Infrared Counterparts to Chandra X-Ray Sources in the Antennae", Astrophysical Journal, 658, 319C

Carson, J. C. (2007)
"Hale and Hearty", Saveur Magazine, 99, 20.

Carson, J. C., Eikenberry, S. S., Smith, J. J., and Cordes, J. M. (2006)
"The Cornell High-Order Adaptive Optics Survey for Brown Dwarfs in Stellar Systems. II. Results from Monte Carlo Population Analyses", Astronomical Journal, 132, 1146C

Carson, J. C., Kern, B. D., Trauger, J. T., and Breckinridge, J. B. (2006)
"The Effects of Instrumental Elliptical Polarization on Stellar Point Spread Function Fine Structure", SPIE, 6265E, 109C

Carson, J. C., Eikenberry, S. S., Brandl, B. R., Wilson, J. C., and Hayward, T. L. (2005)
"The Cornell High-Order Adaptive Optics Survey for Brown Dwarfs in Stellar Systems. I.  Observations, Data Reduction, and Detection Analysis", Astronomical Journal, 130, 1212C

Carson, J. C., Wilson, D. W., and Trauger, J. T. (2005)
"Graded Coronagraphic Masks for High-Contrast Near-Infrared Imaging", SPIE, 5905, 427C

Brandl, B. R., Clark, D. M., Eikenberry, S. S., Wilson, J. C., Henderson, C. P., Barry, D. J., Houck, J. R., Carson, J. C., and Hayward, T. L. (2005)
"Deep Near-Infrared Imaging and Photometry of the Antennae Galaxies with WIRC", Astrophysical Journal, 635, 280B

Clark, D. M., Christopher, M. H., Eikenberry, S. S., Brandl, B. R., Wilson, J. C., Carson, J. C. et al. (2005)
"The Ultraluminous X-Ray Source X-37 Is a Background Quasar in the Antennae Galaxies", Astrophysical Journal, 631L, 109C

Wilson, J. C., Eikenberry, S. S., Henderson, C. P., Hayward, T. L., Carson, J. C. et al. (2003)
"A Wide-Field Infrared Camera for the Palomar 200-inch Telescope", SPIE, 4841, 451W