Now works at:聽Postdoc - Princeton University
My main research is focused on technology development聽of Starshades, a high contrast imaging technology that will allow us to find聽and characterize Earth-like planets around other stars. I am currently using聽half-meter starshades at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak to聽conduct high contrast astronomy at moderate inner working angles. Our goal is聽to image the faint circumstellar material around nearby stars. This聽demonstration is a critical step in the technology development of starshades聽in preparation for a future space mission. My other research projects include聽formation flying of suborbital vehicles and spacecraft, and optical modeling聽and field testing of diffractive optics.
Selected Recent Publications:
- Harness, A., "Enabling Formation Flying of Starshades for the Search of
Earth-like Exoplanets," IWSCFF (2015)
- Harness, A., et al., "Lab demonstrations of a vision-based formation flying
sensor for suborbital starshade missions," Proc. SPIE, 9143, 33 (2014)
- Harness, A., Cash, W., et al., 鈥淣ew Worlds Airship,鈥� Proc. SPIE, 8864,
4 (2013)
- Shull, J. M., Harness, A., Trenti, M., & Smith, B. D. 2012, ApJ, 747:100