Dr. Bryony F. Nickson Profile

Dr. Bryony F. Nickson

Staff Scientist II at Space Telescope Science Institute

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (20)

Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

A parameter scan of dark zone maintenance for high-contrast imaging of exoplanets using theoretical and experimental implementations

Saikrishna Manojkumar, Christine Page, Leonid Pogorelyuk, Susan Redmond, Ajay Gill, Laurent Pueyo, Emiel Por, Iva Laginja, Raphael Pourcelot, Bryony Nickson, Ananya Sahoo, Meiji Nguyen, Rémi Soummer, Marshall Perrin, Bijan Nemati, Kerri Cahoy, Jeremy Kasdin

Proceedings Volume 13092, 1309269 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019008

KEYWORDS: Wavefronts, Wavefront sensors, Coronagraphy, Simulations, Electric fields, Cameras, Space telescopes, Signal to noise ratio, Exoplanets, Stars, Equipment, Imaging systems

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Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

High-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes (HiCAT): 11. System-level demonstration of the apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph with a segmented aperture in air

Rémi Soummer, Raphaël Pourcelot, Emiel Por, Sarah Steiger, Iva Laginja, Benjamin Buralli, Susan Redmond, Laurent Pueyo, Marshall Perrin, Marc Ferrari, Jules Fowler, John Hagopian, Mamadou N'Diaye, Meiji Nguyen, Bryony Nickson, Peter Petrone, Ananya Sahoo, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Scott Will

Proceedings Volume 13092, 130921Z (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018037

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Telescopes, Imaging systems, Wavefronts, Phase retrieval, Exoplanets

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We present the final results of the Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph (APLC) on the High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes (HiCAT) testbed, under NASA’s Strategic Astrophysics Technology program. The HiCAT testbed was developed over the past decade to enable a system-level demonstration of coronagraphy for exoplanet direct imaging with the future Habitable Wolds Observatory. HiCAT includes an active, segmented telescope simulator, a coronagraph, and metrology systems (Low-order and Mid-Order Zernike Wavefront Sensors, and Phase Retrieval camera). These results correspond to an off-axis (un-obscured) configuration, as was envisioned in the 2020 Decadal Survey Recommendations. Narrowband and broadband dark holes are generated using two continuous deformable mirrors (DM) to control high order wavefront aberrations, and low-order drifts can be further stabilized using the LOWFS loop. The APLC apodizers, manufactured using carbon nanotubes, were optimized for broadband performance and include the calibrated geometric aperture. The objectives of this SAT program were organized in three milestones to reach a system-like level demonstration of segmented-aperture coronagraphy, from static component demonstration to system-level demonstration under both natural and artificial disturbances. HiCAT is, to this date, the only testbed facility able to demonstrate high-contrast coronagraphy with a truly segmented aperture, as is required for the Habitable World Observatory, albeit limited to ambient conditions, corresponding to NASA’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4. Results presented here include 6 × 10⁻⁸ (90% CI) contrast in 9% bandpass in a 360 deg dark hole with inner and outer working angles of 4.4λ/D_pupil and 11λ/D_pupil. Narrowband contrast (3% bandpass) reaches 2.4 × 10⁻⁸ (90% confidence interval). We first explore the open-loop stability of the entire system quantify the baseline testbed performance. Then we present dark hole stabilization using both high-order and low-order loops under both low-order and segment level drifts in narrow and broadband. We compare experimental data with that obtained by the end-to-end HiCAT simulator. We establish that current performance limitations are due to a combination of ambient conditions, detector and deformable mirrors noises (including quantization), and model mismatch.

Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

Mid-order wavefront control for exoplanet imaging: preliminary characterization of the segmented deformable mirror and Zernike wavefront sensor on HiCAT

Benjamin Buralli, Mamadou N'Diaye, Raphaël Pourcelot, Marcel Carbillet, Emiel Por, Iva Laginja, Ludovic Canas, Sarah Steiger, Peter Petrone, Meiji Nguyen, Bryony Nickson, Susan Redmond, Ananya Sahoo, Laurent Pueyo, Marshall Perrin, Rémi Soummer

Proceedings Volume 13092, 1309268 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3018900

KEYWORDS: Signal to noise ratio, Wavefront sensors, Wavefront errors, Telescopes, Wavefronts, Deformable mirrors, Mirrors, Actuators, Sensors

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Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Exoplanet detection techniques for direct imaging dark zone maintenance data sets

Susan Redmond, Laurent Pueyo, Emiel Por, Raphaël Pourcelot, Iva Laginja, Bryony Nickson, Ananya Sahoo, Meiji Nguyen, N. Jeremy Kasdin, Marshall Perrin, Rémi Soummer, Leonid Pogorelyuk

Proceedings Volume 13092, 1309224 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3015089

KEYWORDS: Planets, Signal to noise ratio, Telescopes, Coherence imaging, Point spread functions, Optical coherence, Histograms, Coronagraphy, Stars, Wavefronts

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Proceedings Article | 18 July 2024 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

GPI 2.0: upgrade status of the Gemini Planet Imager

Jeffrey Chilcote, Quinn Konopacky, Randall Hamper, Bruce Macintosh, Christian Marois, Dmitry Savransky, Rémi Soummer, Jean-Pierre Véran, Guido Agapito, Arlene Aleman, Marco Bonaglia, Marc-André Boucher, Joel Burke, Vincent Chambouleyron, Robert De Rosa, Clarissa Do Ó, Jennifer Dunn, Matthew Engstrom, Simone Esposito, Guillaume Filion, Joeleff Fitzsimmons, Oyku Galvan, Dan Kerley, Jean-Thomas Landry, Olivier Lardière, Daniel Levinstein, Mary Anne Limbach, Jérôme Maire, Anna Matzner, Teo Mocnik, Bryony Nickson, Eric Nielsen, Jayke Nguyen, Meiji Nguyen, Saavidra Perera, Dillon Peng, Marshall Perrin, Emiel Por, Laurent Pueyo, Carlos Quiroz, Fredrik Rantakyrö, Brian Sands, Andreas Seifahrt, Garima Singh, Eduardo Wolf

Proceedings Volume 13096, 1309699 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020642

KEYWORDS: Gemini Planet Imager, Wavefront sensors, Planets, Gemini Observatory, Iterated function systems, Adaptive optics, Stars, Equipment, Prisms, Design

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Proceedings Article | 6 October 2023 Presentation

Presentation

Broadband performance of the PAPLC coronagraph on the HiCAT testbed

Emiel Por, Raphaël Pourcelot, Ananya Sahoo, Meiji Nguyen, Bryony Nickson, Alex Klein, Peter Petrone, Iva Laginja, Laurent Pueyo, Rémi Soummer

Proceedings Volume 12680, 126801D (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677757

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Wavefront sensors, Wavefront aberrations, Telescopes, Spatial frequencies, Observatories, Wavefronts, Pupil aberrations, Point spread functions, Mirrors

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Proceedings Article | 6 October 2023 Presentation

Presentation

High-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes (HiCAT): 10. Broadband Zernike wavefront sensor under natural and artificial drifts

Raphaël Pourcelot, Emiel Por, Mamadou N'Diaye, Benjamin Buralli, Marcel Carbillet, Kjetil Dohlen, Sylvain Egron, Marc Ferrari, Rachel Fox, Rob Gontrum, Iva Laginja, Meiji Nguyen, Bryony Nickson, Marshall Perrin, Peter Petrone, Laurent Pueyo, Susan Redmond, Ananya Sahoo, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Hari Subedi, Sam Weinstock, Scott Will, Rémi Soummer, John Hagopian

Proceedings Volume 12680, 126801F (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677790

KEYWORDS: Wavefront sensors, Telescopes, Imaging systems, Coronagraphy, Deformable mirrors, Stars, Monochromatic aberrations, Image segmentation, Wavefront aberrations, Observatories

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Proceedings Article | 5 October 2023 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

Differential optical transfer function wavefront sensing and pupil calibration with the HiCAT testbed

Meiji Nguyen, Emiel Por, Ananya Sahoo, Rémi Soummer, Raphaël Pourcelot, Bryony Nickson, Laurent Pueyo, Marshall Perrin, Iva Laginja

Proceedings Volume 12680, 126802H (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677756

KEYWORDS: Calibration, Actuators, Optical transfer functions, Cameras, Point spread functions, Phase retrieval, Wavefronts, Pupil aberrations, Fourier transforms, Wavefront aberrations, Segmented mirrors, Wavefront reconstruction, Coronagraphy, Aberration correction

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Proceedings Article | 5 October 2023 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

Testing and performance of IFS upgrades for GPI 2.0

Dillon Peng, Jeffrey Chilcote, Quinn Konopacky, Randall Hamper, Joel Burke, Brian Sands, Matthew Engstrom, Abigail Karaszewski, Rebecca Boyle, Mary Anne Limbach, Alexandra Greenbaum, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Alexa Rizika, Saavidra Perera, Clarissa Do Ó, Jayke Nguyen, Bruce Macintosh, Joeleff Fitzsimmons, Christian Marois, Fredrik Rantakyrö, Arlene Aleman, Jérôme Maire, Robert De Rosa, Emiel Por, Dmitry Savransky, Meiji Nguyen, Marshall Perrin, Remi Soummer, Laurent Pueyo, Bryony Nickson, Eckhart Spalding

Proceedings Volume 12680, 126801Y (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677675

KEYWORDS: Prisms, Gemini Planet Imager, Iterated function systems, Optical filters, Spectral resolution, Optical alignment, Gemini Observatory, Design and modelling, Wavefront sensors

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Proceedings Article | 5 October 2023 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Upgrading the Gemini planet imager to GPI 2.0

Saavidra Perera, Jeffrey Chilcote, Quinn Konopacky, Joeleff Fitzsimmons, Randall Hamper, Bruce Macintosh, Christian Marois, Dmitry Savransky, Remi Soummer, Jean-Pierre Veran, Guido Agapito, Arlene Aleman, S. Mark Ammons, Marco Bonaglia, Marc-Andre Boucher, Joel Burke, Maeve Curliss, Robert De Rosa, Clarissa Do Ó, Jennifer Dunn, Simone Esposito, Guillaume Filion, Dan Kerley, Jean-Thomas Landry, Olivier Lardiere, Daniel Levinstein, Duan Li, Mary Anne Limbach, Alex Madurowicz, Jérôme Maire, Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer, Bryony Nickson, Eric Nielsen, Jayke Nguyen, Meiji Nguyen, Dillon Peng, Marshall Perrin, Emiel Por, Lisa Poyneer, Laurent Pueyo, Fredrik Rantakyrö, Brian Sands, Eckhart Spalding, Kaitlyn Summey

Proceedings Volume 12680, 1268001 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2676960

KEYWORDS: Gemini Planet Imager, Wavefront sensors, Planets, Gemini Observatory, Equipment, Adaptive optics, Prisms, Cameras, Stars, Exoplanets

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

GPI 2.0: optical designs for the upgrade of the Gemini Planet Imager coronagraphic system

Meiji N. Nguyen, Bryony F. Nickson, Emiel H. Por, Rémi Soummer, John G. Hagopian, Bruce Macintosh, Jeffrey Chilcote, Laurent Pueyo, Marshall Perrin, Quinn Konopacky

Proceedings Volume 12188, 121884K (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630675

KEYWORDS: Gemini Planet Imager, Coronagraphy, Point spread functions, Gemini Observatory, Manufacturing, Optical design, Planetary systems, Observatories, Fourier transforms, Tolerancing

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

GPI 2.0: performance of upgrades to the Gemini Planet Imager CAL and IFS

Dillon Peng, Maeve Curliss, Mary Anne Limbach, Jeffrey Chilcote, Randall Hamper, Quinn Konopacky, Joeleff Fitzsimmons, Bruce Macintosh, Christian Marois, Fredrik Rantakyrö, Arlene Aleman, Jérôme Maire, Robert De Rosa, Emiel Por, Dmitry Savransky, Brian Sands, Marshall Perrin, Remi Soummer, Isabel Kain, Laurent Pueyo, Bryony Nickson, Meiji Nguyen, Clarissa Do Ó, Saavidra Perera, Eckhart Spalding

Proceedings Volume 12184, 1218443 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630329

KEYWORDS: Gemini Planet Imager, Sensors, Cameras, Prisms, Microlens array, Wavefront sensors, Spectral resolution, Gemini Observatory

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

GPI 2.0: upgrade status of the Gemini Planet Imager

Jeffrey Chilcote, Quinn Konopacky, Joeleff Fitzsimmons, Randall Hamper, Bruce Macintosh, Christian Marois, Dmitry Savransky, Remi Soummer, Jean-Pierre Véran, Guido Agapito, Arlene Aleman, S. Mark Ammons, Marco Bonaglia, Marc-Andre Boucher, Maeve Curliss, Robert De Rosa, Clarissa Do Ó, Jennifer Dunn, Simone Esposito, Guillaume Filion, Dan Kerley, Jean-Thomas Landry, Olivier Lardiere, Daniel Levinstein, Duan Li, Mary Anne Limbach, Alex Madurowicz, Jérôme Maire, Max Millar-Blanchaer, Bryony Nickson, Eric Nielsen, Jayke Nguyen, Meiji Nguyen, Dillon Peng, Saavidra Perera, Marshall Perrin, Emiel Por, Lisa Poyneer, Laurent Pueyo, Fredrik Rantakyrö, Brian Sands, Eckhart Spalding, Kaitlyn Summey

Proceedings Volume 12184, 121841T (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630159

KEYWORDS: Gemini Planet Imager, Planets, Stars, Gemini Observatory, Adaptive optics, Prisms, Exoplanets, Iterated function systems, Wavefront sensors, Spectral resolution

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Proceedings Article | 29 August 2022 Poster

Poster

GPI 2.0: End-to-end simulations of the AO-coronagraph system

Jayke Nguyen, Jérôme Maire, Saavidra Perera, Daniel Levinstein, Clarissa Do Ó, Quinn Konopacky, Jeffrey Chilcote, Joeleff Fitzsimmons, Randall Hamper, Dan Kerley, Bruce Macintosh, Christian Marois, Fredrik Rantakyrö, Dmitry Savransky, Jean-Pierre Véran, Guido Agapito, S. Mark Ammons, Marco Bonaglia, Marc-Andre Boucher, Jennifer Dunn, Simone Esposito, Guillaume Filion, Jean-Thomas Landry, Olivier Lardière, Duan Li, Alex Madurowicz, Meiji Nguyen, Bryony Nickson, Dillon Peng, Emiel Por, Lisa Poyneer,

Proceedings Volume 12185, 121853M (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630446

KEYWORDS: Gemini Planet Imager, Adaptive optics, Imaging systems, Device simulation, Wavefront sensors, Telescopes, Systems modeling, Performance modeling, Gemini Observatory, Exoplanets

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Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Poster + Paper

APLC-optimization: an apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph design survey toolkit

Bryony Nickson, Emiel Por, Meiji Nguyen, Rémi Soummer, Iva Laginja, Ananya Sahoo, Laurent Pueyo, Katheryn St. Laurent, Mamadou N’Diaye, Neil Zimmerman, James Noss, Marshall Perrin

Proceedings Volume 12180, 121805K (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630686

KEYWORDS: Apodization, Exoplanets, Optical design software, Optimization (mathematics), Design and modelling, Coronagraphy, Telescopes, Tolerancing, Image segmentation, Optical instrument design, Gemini Planet Imager, Point spread functions, Error analysis, Space telescopes, Software development

Read Abstract +

Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Poster + Presentation + Paper

Poster + Presentation + Paper

JWST/NIRCam coronagraphy: commissioning and first on-sky results

Julien Girard, Jarron Leisenring, Jens Kammerer, Mario Gennaro, Marcia Rieke, John Stansberry, Armin Rest, Eiichi Egami, Ben Sunnquist, Martha Boyer, Alicia Canipe, Matteo Correnti, Bryan Hilbert, Marshall Perrin, Laurent Pueyo, Remi Soummer, Marsha Allen, Howard Bushouse, Jonathan Aguilar, Brian Brooks, Dan Coe, Audrey DiFelice, David Golimowski, George Hartig, Dean Hines, Anton Koekemoer, Bryony Nickson, Nikolay Nikolov, Vera Kozhurina-Platais, Nor Pirzkal, Massimo Robberto, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Sangmo Tony Sohn, Randal Telfer, Chi Rai Wu, Thomas Beatty, Michael Florian, Kevin Hainline, Doug Kelly, Karl Misselt, Everett Schlawin, Fengwu Sun, Christina Williams, Christopher Willmer, Christopher Stark, Marie Ygouf, Aarynn Carter, Charles Beichman, Thomas Greene, Thomas Roellig, John Krist, Jéa Adams Redai, Jason Wang, Charles Clark, Dan Lewis, Malcolm Ferry

Proceedings Volume 12180, 121803Q (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629636

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Stars, James Webb Space Telescope, Point spread functions, Distortion, Telescopes, Signal to noise ratio, Calibration, Target acquisition, Exoplanets, Astronomical imaging, Near infrared, Direct methods, Astronomical instrumentation

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Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

High-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes (HiCAT): 8. Dark zone demonstration with simultaneous closed-loop low-order wavefront sensing and control

Rémi Soummer, Emiel Por, Raphaël Pourcelot, Susan Redmond, Iva Laginja, Scott Will, Marshall Perrin, Laurent Pueyo, Ananya Sahoo, Peter Petrone, Keira Brooks, Rachel Fox, Alex Klein, Bryony Nickson, Thomas Comeau, Marc Ferrari, Rob Gontrum, John Hagopian, Lucie Leboulleux, Daniel Leongomez, Joe Lugten, Laurent Mugnier, Mamadou N'Diaye, Meiji Nguyen, James Noss, Jean-François Sauvage, Nathan Scott, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Hari Subedi, Sam Weinstock

Proceedings Volume 12180, 1218026 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630444

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Wavefronts, Wavefront sensors, Telescopes, Phase retrieval

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Proceedings Article | 3 September 2021 Presentation + Paper

Presentation + Paper

Simulating JWST high contrast observations with PanCAKE

Aarynn Carter, Andrew J. Skemer, Camilla Danielski, Jarron Leisenring, Jason Wang, Kyle Van Gorkom, Brian York, Jea Adams, Beth Biller, Julien Girard, Sasha Hinkley, Bryony Nickson, Marshall Perrin, Laurent Pueyo

Proceedings Volume 11823, 118230H (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2594501

KEYWORDS: James Webb Space Telescope, Point spread functions, Coronagraphy, Wavefronts, Computer simulations, Device simulation, Target acquisition, Telescopes, Sensors, Exoplanets

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Proceedings Article | 4 August 2021 Presentation

Presentation

High-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes (HiCAT): 7. Dark zone demonstration with fully segmented aperture coronagraph

Rémi Soummer, Iva Laginja, Scott Will, Marshall Perrin, James Noss, Emiel Por, Susan Redmond, Raphaël Pourcelot, Ananya Sahoo, Peter Petrone, Keira Brooks, Laurent Pueyo, Bryony Nickson, Matt Maclay, Gregory Brady, Thomas Comeau, Julia Fowler, Kelsey Glazer, Rob Gontrum, John Hagopian, Theo Jolivet, Maggie Kautz, Lucie Leboulleux, Evelyn McChesney, Laurent Mugnier, Mamadou N'Diaye, Meiji Nguyen, Heather Olszewski, Leonid Pogorelyuk, Jaret Prothro, Jean-François Sauvage, Nathan Scott, Ron Shiri, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Hari Subedi, Sam Weinstock, Yinzi Xin, Rebecca Zhang

Proceedings Volume 11823, 118230T (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2594684

KEYWORDS: Image segmentation, Coronagraphy, Telescopes, Imaging systems, Wavefront sensors, Wavefronts, Deformable mirrors, Ultraviolet telescopes, Ultraviolet radiation, UV optics

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Proceedings Article | 17 August 2018 Paper

Paper

Making good use of JWST's coronagraphs: tools and strategies from a user's perspective

Julien Girard, William Blair, Brian Brooks, Keira Brooks, Robert Brown, Howard Bushouse, Alicia Canipe, Christine Chen, Matteo Correnti, J. Brendan Hagan, Bryan Hilbert, Dean Hines, Jarron Leisenring, Joseph Long, Bryony Nickson, Marshall Perrin, Klaus Pontoppidan, Laurent Pueyo, Abhijith Rajan, Adric Riedel, Remi Soummer, John Stansberry, Christopher Stark, Kyle Van Gorkom, Brian York

Proceedings Volume 10698, 106983V (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314198

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Point spread functions, James Webb Space Telescope, Stars, Signal to noise ratio, Exoplanets, Calibration, Visibility, Space telescopes, Device simulation

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Showing 5 of 20 publications

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