Program: GN-2006A-Q-5

We propose to obtain second epoch observations of stars around which faint sources have been detected as part of our deep direct imaging exoplanets survey. These observations are necessary to verify companionship of the candidates. Our survey employs ALTAIR+NIRI and the angular differential imaging (ADI) technique to suppress speckle noise and achieve high contrast. GDPS data obtained in previous semesters demonstrate that ADI is a very powerful technique: our observations typically reach 2 Mjup at separations of ~60 AU. GDPS complements radial velocity searches (limited to smaller separations) and extends the discovery space of previous direct imaging exoplanets surveys. Searching for planets at wide separations is justified by the recent discoveries of two planets beyond 40 AU, by models of debris disks structures, by studies of planetary dynamics and by RV data, which all suggest a significant population of planets at separations of a few tens to hundreds of AU. We request time to observe 35 stars for which companionship of candidates can be verified during 2006A. We expect to complete the project in 2006b