A novel technique using pairs of small telescopes to measure the sizes of nearby stars

一种利用小型望远镜测量附近恒星大小的新技术

• 批准号: 1616906
• 负责人: Philip Mauskopf
• 金额: $ 13.25万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1616906&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: novel; technique; using; pairs; small

Astronomers at Arizona State University (ASU) have developed a novel new instrument that can be used to measure the size of bright stars and to separate stars that exist as a close pair and orbit each other. Known as an "interferometer", the instrument comprises two small telescopes which, when used together, act like a much larger telescope. Each telescope is only 50 centimeters in diameter. The telescopes are mounted on the roof of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU. New cameras, developed by the project's principal investigator (PI) and his students, are being used on the two telescopes to take many thousands of images very quickly. By studying these sequences of images carefully the team can check for the dimming of the star as a planet passes in front of it. The equipment can also be used to study the "blinking" of very rapidly rotating stars known as "pulsars". Engagement with amateur astronomy communities is planned through monthly public demonstrations of the rooftop interferometer. The equipment will also be used to teach graduate and undergraduate students about the technique and the specialized cameras being used. The PI also hopes to eventually take the equipment to the Kitt Peak Observatory so that it can be tested on larger telescopes. The PI, along with a graduate student, aims to obtain high angular resolution observations of nearby bright stars using intensity interferometry with two or possibly more 8 to 18 inch telescopes. The telescopes will be coupled to single-photon detectors, which the PI and his students have been characterizing in their lab. The main science goal is to measure the angular size of each star by observing single photons from the same star with multiple telescopes and time-tagging them. In this way angular resolutions corresponding to the size of the telescope separations can be achieved. The measured stellar radii will be compared to other stellar properties, such as temperature, to improve our understanding of convection in main sequence stars and ultimately the equation of state. Secondary science goals include resolving close binaries, high-speed photometry of known exoplanet transits, and long-term high-speed monitoring of pulsars. The detectors that comprise the interferometer each fit within a module that can be moved to other telescopes; stage 2 of the project involves coupling these single photon counting detector modules to larger (1 and 4 meter) telescopes at Kitt Peak via fiber-optic cable. Stage 1 - commissioning of the interferometer using the smaller telescopes at Arizona State University - has already begun.

亚利桑那州立大学（ASU）的天文学家开发了一种新颖的新仪器，可用于测量明亮恒星的大小，并分离作为一对紧密存在并相互绕轨道运行的恒星。该仪器被称为“干涉仪”，由两个小望远镜组成，当它们一起使用时，就像一个大得多的望远镜。每个望远镜的直径只有50厘米。这些望远镜安装在亚利桑那州立大学地球与太空探索学院的屋顶上。由该项目的首席研究员（PI）和他的学生开发的新相机正在两台望远镜上使用，以非常快的速度拍摄数千张图像。通过仔细研究这些图像序列，研究小组可以检查行星经过星星时恒星的变暗情况。该设备还可以用于研究被称为“恒星”的快速旋转恒星的“闪烁”。 计划通过每月公开演示屋顶干涉仪与业余天文学界进行接触。该设备还将用于教授研究生和本科生有关该技术和所使用的专用相机。PI还希望最终将设备带到基特峰天文台，以便在更大的望远镜上进行测试。PI与一名研究生沿着，旨在使用两台或更多8至18英寸望远镜的强度干涉测量法获得附近亮星的高角分辨率观测。 望远镜将与PI和他的学生在实验室中表征的单光子探测器耦合。主要的科学目标是通过用多个望远镜观察来自同一颗星星的单个光子并给它们贴上时间标签来测量每颗星星的角大小。通过这种方式，可以实现与望远镜间距大小相对应的角分辨率。测量的恒星半径将与其他恒星属性（如温度）进行比较，以提高我们对主序星对流的理解，并最终了解状态方程。次要的科学目标包括解析近距离双星，对已知系外行星凌日进行高速测光，以及对双星进行长期高速监测。构成干涉仪的每个探测器都安装在一个可以移动到其他望远镜的模块中;该项目的第二阶段涉及通过光纤电缆将这些单光子计数探测器模块耦合到基特峰的更大（1米和4米）望远镜。第一阶段--使用亚利桑那州立大学的小型望远镜进行干涉仪的调试--已经开始。