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

在山顶上。威尔逊俯瞰洛杉矶坐落在一个Y形阵列的六个1米口径的望远镜。与位于其他山顶的望远镜不同，这六个望远镜不是彼此独立使用的，而是统一使用，有效地形成一个更大的望远镜，即干涉阵列，其中每个望远镜的光学和近红外光与相邻望远镜的光相结合。6台1米望远镜作为干涉仪阵列运行，能够探测到天文学来源中的更精细细节（空间分辨率），而如果单独使用1米望远镜则无法探测到。六个1米望远镜之间的物理距离从33米到331米不等，空间分辨率优于1毫角秒。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超大望远镜（ELT）的分辨率还要高出一个数量级。自从Mt的建造。威尔逊阵列于2005年由格鲁吉亚州立大学的高角分辨率天文学中心（CHARA）完成。威尔逊干涉仪阵列首次直接探测到了单个星星的重力变暗，首次获得了晕族星星的角直径，首次获得了单个主序星星星的图像，首次获得了相互作用双星的直接图像，首次获得了发现后15小时内新星周围膨胀火球的图像。资助的工作将大大提高干涉仪阵列的能力，检测微弱的目标（灵敏度）和科学吞吐量，完成自适应光学升级的六个1米望远镜。视视情况而定，灵敏度将提高0.5至3个数量级，科学吞吐量将提高3至5倍。 进入Mt。威尔逊干涉仪通过国家光学天文台（NOAO）管理的开放分配流程提供给联盟成员，也提供给一般天文学界。通过该阵列，CHARA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课程以及公共宣传活动。为完成Mt。Wilson光学/近红外干涉仪的升级是通过NSF的主要研究仪器（MRI）计划提供的。受资助的工作将完成CHARA阵列自最初建造以来的第一次主要设施升级。格鲁吉亚州立大学的T. Brummelaar及其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。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反射镜（DM），完成每个望远镜的全面，快速AO能力的开发和实施。总之，这些修改应产生灵敏度增加0.5至3个量级在H波段，并增加约3倍，在夏季和5倍，在冬季的高质量数据的夜晚的数量，与所需的积分时间，以达到特定的SNR减少了一个因素，高达3。新的重要研究领域包括研究高度变红的目标，如年轻恒星周围的碎片盘，T-Tauri盘和YSO上的吸积流。

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.