Observations of Extrasolar Planetary Systems from Mauna Kea

David E. Trilling
University of Pennsylvania

Observing and characterizing extrasolar planetary
systems is a difficult business. Because most extrasolar
planets themselves are far to faint to be detected
currently, we must use other techniques to observe
planetary systems and determine how they are similar
to our own. Two techniques we have used are to look
for companions to young stars (on the assumption that
young planets are bright) and to look for circumstellar
disks around young and old stars. In their earliest
stages, these disks represent protoplanetary disks;
the later debris disk stage is analogous to our Solar
System's zodiacal and Kuiper Belt dust.

In this talk, I will show some of our recent results
of imaging these components of extrasolar planetary
systems. I will show results from coronagraphic imaging
of the TW Hydra Association and of stars with known
extrasolar planets. I will also show results of our
mid-infrared survey for dust around stars with known
planets. At the end I will suggest some avenues for
future work, both instrumental and scientific.