MRI: Development of Adaptive Optics Upgrade for the CHARA Array - Phase II

MRI：CHARA 阵列自适应光学升级的开发 - 第二阶段

• 批准号: 1531856
• 负责人: Theo ten Brummelaar
• 金额: $ 111.85万
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1531856&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Adaptive; Optics; Upgrade

On the summit of Mt. Wilson overlooking Los Angeles sits a Y-shaped array of six 1-m aperture telescopes. Unlike telescopes located on other mountaintops, these six are not used independently of each other, but are instead used in unison to effectively form a single larger telescope, an interferometric array, in which the optical and near-infrared light from each of the telescopes is combined with the light from its neighbors. Operation of the six 1-m telescopes as an interferometric array results in the ability to detect finer details (spatial resolution) in astronomical sources than would be possible if the 1-m telescopes were utilized individually. With physical separations between the six 1-m telescopes ranging from 33 to 331 meters, spatial resolutions better than 1 milliarcsecond are achieved. This far exceeds the resolution of the largest ground-based and orbiting telescopes, and is even an order of magnitude better than will be possible with the extremely large telescopes (ELTs) currently under development. Since construction of the Mt. Wilson array was completed in 2005 by Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA), the Mt. Wilson interferometric array has yielded the first direct detection of gravity darkening on a single star, the first angular diameter for a halo population star, the first image of a single, main-sequence star, the first direct image of an interacting binary, and first images of the expanding fireball around a nova just 15 hours after its discovery. The funded work will significantly improve the interferometric array's ability to detect faint targets (sensitivity) and scientific throughput by completing an adaptive optics upgrade for each of the six 1-m telescopes. The sensitivity will be improved by 0.5 to 3 magnitudes, depending on the seeing conditions, and the scientific throughput will be enhanced by a factor of 3-5. Access to the Mt. Wilson interferometer is afforded to consortium members but also to the general astronomical community through an open allocation process managed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Through the array, CHARA is training the next generation of scientific and technical experts in the field of interferometry, and scientific results emerging from the facility are incorporated in undergraduate courses as well as public outreach activities. Funding for completing the Mt. Wilson optical/near-IR interferometer upgrade is being provided through the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program of the NSF.The funded work will complete the first major facility upgrade of the CHARA array since initial construction. Georgia State's Dr. T. ten Brummelaar and collaborators have carefully considered the most cost-effective approaches to enhance the sensitivity of the instrument. The principal goal of the funded work is to add deformable mirrors (DM) to each of the six 1-m telescopes, completing the development and implementation of full, fast AO capabilities at each telescope. Together, these modifications should yield sensitivity increases 0.5 to 3 magnitudes at H band, and increase the number of nights of high-quality data by about a factor of 3 in the summer and 5 in the winter, with the integration time required to reach a specific SNR reduced by a factor of up to 3. New important areas of study include the study of highly reddened targets such debris disks around young stars, T-Tauri disks, and accretion flows onto YSOs.

在山顶上。威尔逊俯瞰洛杉矶，坐在由六个1米口径望远镜组成的Y形阵列中。与位于其他山顶的望远镜不同，这六个望远镜并不是相互独立使用的，而是统一使用，有效地形成了一个更大的望远镜--干涉阵列，其中每个望远镜的光学和近红外光与来自其邻近望远镜的光相结合。与单独使用1米望远镜相比，将6个1米望远镜作为干涉阵列进行操作，能够探测到天文信号源中更精细的细节(空间分辨率)。在6个1米望远镜之间的物理间隔从33米到331米的情况下，空间分辨率可以达到优于1毫弧秒的水平。这远远超过了最大的地面和轨道望远镜的分辨率，甚至比目前正在开发的极大望远镜(ELT)的分辨率高出一个数量级。自从这座山建成以来。威尔逊阵列是由佐治亚州立大学的高角分辨率天文中心(CHARA)于2005年完成的。威尔逊干涉阵列已经产生了第一个直接探测到单星引力变暗的结果，第一个光晕群星的角直径，第一个单颗主序恒星的图像，第一个相互作用的双星的直接图像，以及新星发现仅15小时后正在膨胀的火球的第一张图像。这项资助的工作将通过完成六个1米望远镜的自适应光学系统升级，显著提高干涉阵列探测微弱目标的能力(灵敏度)和科学吞吐量。视情况而定，灵敏度将提高0.5~3个数量级，科学吞吐量将提高3~5倍。可进入这座山。威尔逊干涉仪通过由国家光学天文台管理的开放分配程序提供给联盟成员，也提供给普通天文学团体。通过该阵列，查拉正在培训干涉测量领域的下一代科学和技术专家，该设施产生的科学成果被纳入本科生课程以及公共宣传活动。完成这座山的资金。威尔逊光学/近红外干涉仪升级是通过国家科学基金会的主要研究仪器(MRI)计划提供的。这项资助的工作将完成查拉阵列自最初建造以来的第一次重大设施升级。佐治亚州立大学的T.ten Brummelaar博士和他的合作者仔细考虑了提高仪器灵敏度的最具成本效益的方法。这项资助工作的主要目标是为六个1米望远镜中的每一个增加可变形镜(DM)，完成每个望远镜全面、快速的AO能力的开发和实施。总而言之，这些改进将在H波段产生0.5到3个量级的灵敏度提高，并使高质量数据的夜间数在夏季增加约3倍，在冬季增加约5倍，达到特定信噪比所需的积分时间减少高达3倍。新的重要研究领域包括研究高度红化的目标，如年轻恒星周围的碎片盘、T-Tauri盘和YSO上的吸积流。