Steward Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab Joint Colloquium Series: A New Shark in the Ocean: the NIR High-Contrast Imager for the LBT

Abstract: In March 2022, SHARK-NIR, the new high-contrast imager with spectroscopic capabilities for the Large Binocular Telescope, successfully passed the Preliminary Acceptance in Europe. In a few months we will be able to deliver the first images in the YJH photometric bands with extreme AO corrections (Strehl ratio in the H band ~ 80 %) for a 18x18 arcsec field of view. The main scientific driver is the detection (and possible spectroscopic follow up) of giant planets and brown dwarf companions on wide orbits of low-mass stars. In case of young systems, their circumstellar disks (where planet formation is known to occur) will be also investigated. Other science topics include stellar jest, AGN and QSO, Solar System bodies and evolved AGB post-AGB stars. In this talk we will present a broad technical view of the instrument, and we will discuss all the scientific cases.