MRI-R^2 Consortium: Development of VISION: The Next Generation Science Camera for the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公共法律111-5)资助的，研究太阳等恒星的表面细节一直非常有限，因为它们的角度很小，因为它们距离很远。天文学家知道太阳黑子(或恒星黑子)很常见，但除了太阳本身之外，人们对此知之甚少。我们的太阳和其他恒星一样吗？我们生活在太阳生命中的一个不同寻常的时期，还是其他恒星的典型？我们能预见甚至预测太阳表面可能影响我们的天气和气候的变化吗？为了试图回答这些问题，天文学家必须提高望远镜的分辨率，才能看到其他恒星表面的精细细节。田纳西州立大学的马修·穆特斯波博士设计了一种新的光学相机，可以提高干涉仪的分辨率。干涉仪是一种特殊的望远镜，由几个分散在100米以上的小望远镜组成。他的相机将安装在亚利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫附近的海军光学干涉仪原型上，这将使干涉仪看到细节的能力提高10倍。这将使天文学家第一次能够看到像我们的太阳这样的其他恒星表面的细节。Muterspaugh博士的工作得到了NSF通过天文科学部的重大研究仪器项目的资助。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)Studying the surface details of stars like our sun has been very limited because of their small angular sizes due to their great distances. Astronomers know that sunspots (or starspots) are common, but little detail is known except for the sun itself. Is our sun like other stars? Are we living in an unusual time in the sun's life or is it typical of that of other stars? Can we expect and even predict changes to the sun's surface that may affect our weather and climate? To try to answer these questions, astronomers must increase the resolution of telescopes to see fine details on the surfaces of other stars. Dr. Matthew Muterspaugh of Tennessee State University has designed a new optical camera that will improve the resolution of an interferometer, a special kind of telescope that is made up of several small telescopes spread apart over distances in excess of 100 meters. His camera will be put on the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer located near Flagstaff, Arizona and it will improve the Interferometer's ability to see fine detail by a factor of 10. This will enable astronomers, for the first time, to see the details on the surfaces of other stars like our sun Dr. Muterspaugh's work is funded by NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program through the Division of Astronomical Sciences.