Near Term Opportunities for Deep Circumstellar Imaging

Christ Ftaclas, Physics Department 
Michigan Tech 

Many problems of significant astronomical interest from the nature of QSO
environments to planet formation can be studied by deep imaging in the
circumstellar region.  Although the principal barrier to such imaging is 
the scattered and diffracted light halo surrounding any unresolved source, 
problems can also arise from the telescope design itself.   

This talk will consider the basic concept of detection in the context of
imaging data and apply these considerations to the circumstellar 
problem.  The factors limiting deep circumstellar imaging will be identified 
and various approaches to suppressing halo light will be discussed.  Proposed 
and ongoing circumstellar imaging programs will be discussed as well as some 
new possible approaches to the problem.