CHARA array

Control center of the CHARA array

The CHARA array engl. CHARA Array is an optical astronomical interferometer run by The Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) at Georgia State University (GSU). It is located at the Mount Wilson Observatory , near Los Angeles , California .

The interferometer consists of six reflector telescopes , each one meter in diameter, which are arranged along three axes. The telescopes can be up to 330 meters apart. The light received by the telescopes is then passed through evacuated tubes and optically superimposed. In order for this superposition to take place in the correct phase, the resulting group delay differences between the starlight and the individual telescopes are compensated for in a 100-meter-long building with movable mirrors. The array achieves an angular resolution of 0.5 mas (milli-arcseconds) in the infrared. Scientific observations began in 2002, from 2005 image results were routinely obtained. The first image of a star surface, the star Altair , was published in 2007.

See also

A telescope of the array

Aerial view of Mount Wilson showing the historic 100 "hooker telescope in the center, the 60" telescope to the left, and the CHARA array.

• List of the largest optical telescopes
• Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer
• Infrared Spatial Interferometer
• Palomar Testbed Interferometer

credentials

1. ↑ UM astronomers capture the first image of surface features on a sun-like star , University of Michigan , 2007

Web links

• CHARA Homepage (Engl.)
• First 4-Telescope Fringes at the CHARA Array ( Memento from August 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
• Vega Mystery Solved; Red Dwarf Mystery Grows , Sky & Telescope article on CHARA. (engl.)
• First results from the CHARA array. III. Oblateness, Rotational Velocity and Gravity Darkening of Alderamin archiv.org