NESSI and `Alopeke are two speckle imaging instruments for community use at the WIYN
and Gemini-North telescopes. The two instruments were built at NASA ARC and include
the capability for wide-field and traditional CCD imaging. Speckle interferometry
utilizes extremely short exposures to produce interferograms from the turbulent atmosphere
that are reconstructed into a diffraction-limited image, effectively giving space-based
resolution from the ground. A primary role of these instruments is exoplanet validation
for the Kepler, K2, TESS, and many RV programs. Contrast ratios of 6 or more magnitudes
are easily obtained. The instrument uses two EMCCD cameras and two filter wheels to
provide simultaneous dual-color observations in either narrowband or SDSS broadband
filters to characterize detected companions. High resolution imaging enables the identification
of blended binaries that contaminate many exoplanet detections, leading to incorrectly
measured radii.
