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Abstract We explore the possibility of detecting very faint, very close-in stellar companions using large aperture ground-based telescopes and the technique of optical speckle imaging. We examine the state of high-angular-resolution speckle imaging and contrast levels being achieved using current speckle cameras on the Gemini 8 m telescope. We then explore the use of the modern image reconstruction technique—multiframe blind deconvolution (MFBD)—applied to speckle imaging from the Gemini 8 m telescope. We show that MFBD allows us to measure the flux ratio of the imaged stars to high accuracy and the reconstructed images yield higher precision astrometry. Both of these advances provide a large refinement in the derived astrophysical parameters compared with current Fourier techniques. MFBD image reconstructions reach contrast levels of ∼5 × 10 −3 , near the diffraction limit, to ∼10 −4 about 1.″0 away. At these deep contrast levels with angular limits starting near the 8 m diffraction limit (∼20 mas), most stellar companions to a solar-like stars can be imaged in the optical to near-IR bandpass (320–1000 nm). “To Xanadu we go...” —adapted from S. T. Coleridge.
Howell et al. (2024) studied this question.