Vision: A Six-telescope Fiber-fed Visible Light Beam Combiner for the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer
Abstract
Visible-light long baseline interferometry holds the promise of advancing a number of important applications in fundamental astronomy, including the direct measurement of the angular diameters and oblateness of stars, and the direct measurement of the orbits of binary and multiple star systems. To advance the field of visible-light interferometry requires development of instruments capable of combing light from 15 baselines (6 telescopes) simultaneously. The Visible Imaging System for Interferometric Observations at NPOI (VISION) is a new visible light beam combiner for the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI) that uses single-mode fibers to coherently combine light from up to six telescopes simultaneously with a image plane combination scheme. It features a photometric camera for calibrations and spatial filtering from single mode fibers with two Andor Ixon electron multiplying CCDs. This paper presents the VISION system, results of laboratory tests and results of commissioning on-sky observations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- ADA633100
Entities
People
- Anders M. Jorgensen
- Askari Ghasempour
- Donald J. Hutter
- Ellyn K. Baines
- Eugenio V. Garcia
- Gerard Van Belle
- Henrique R. Schmitt
- James A. Benson
- James H. Clark
- Jason Sanborn
- John D. Monnier
- Keivan G. Stassun
- Matthew W. Muterspaugh
- Michael F. Sakosky
- R. T. Zavala
- Samuel Swihart
- Stephen J. Zawicki
- Susan G. Strosahl