  We utilized the new high-order 585 actuator Magellan Adaptive Optics system
(MagAO) to obtain very high-resolution visible light images of HD142527 with
MagAO's VisAO science camera. In the median seeing conditions of the 6.5m
Magellan telescope (0.5-0.7"), we find MagAO delivers 24-19% Strehl at H-alpha
(0.656 microns). We detect a faint companion (HD142527B) embedded in this young
transitional disk system at just 86.3+/-1.9 mas (~12 AU) from the star. The
companion is detected in both H-alpha and a continuum filter
(Delta_mag=6.33+/-0.20 mag at H-alpha and 7.50+/-0.25 mag in the continuum
filter). This provides confirmation of the tentative companion discovered by
Biller and co-workers with sparse aperture masking at the 8m VLT. The H-alpha
emission from the ~0.25 solar mass companion (EW=180 Angstroms) implies a mass
accretion rate of ~5.9x10^-10 Msun/yr, and a total accretion luminosity of 1.2%
Lsun. Assuming a similar accretion rate, we estimate that a 1 Jupiter mass gas
giant could have considerably better (50-1,000x) planet/star contrasts at
H-alpha than at H band (COND models) for a range of optical extinctions (3.4-0
mag). We suggest that ~0.5-5 Mjup extrasolar planets in their gas accretion
phase could be much more luminous at H-alpha than in the NIR. This is the
motivation for our new MagAO GAPplanetS survey for extrasolar planets.
