Sergio Restaino (Naval Research Laboratory), Ty Martinez (Naval Research Laboratory), Jonathan R. Andrews (Naval Research Laboratory), Christopher C. Wilcox (Naval Research Laboratory), S. Teare (New Mexico Tech.), Robert Romeo (Composite Mirrors Applications), Robert Martin (Composite Mirrors Applications), D. Wick (Sandia National Laboratories)
Keywords: Telescopes, Instrumentation
Abstract:
The Naval Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI) is the longest baseline at visible wavelengths interferometer in the world. The astronomical capabilities of such an instrument are being exploited and recent results will be presented. NPOI is also the largest optical telescope belonging to the US Department of Defense with a maximum baseline of 435 meter has a resolution that is approximately 181 times the resolution attainable by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and 118 times the resolution attainable by the Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS). It is also the only optical interferometer capable of recombining up to six apertures simultaneously. The NPOI is a sparse aperture and its sensitivity is limited by the size of the unit aperture, currently that size is 0.5 meters. In order to increase the overall sensitivity of the instrument a program was started to manufacture larger, 1.4 meter, ultra-light telescopes. The lightness of the telescopes requirement is due to the fact that telescopes have to be easily transportable in order to reconfigure the array. For this reason a program was started three years ago to investigate the feasibility of manufacturing Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer telescopes, including the optics. In this paper we will present a status report of this part of the program. Furthermore, since the unit apertures are now much larger than r0 there is a need to compensate the aperture with adaptive optics. This paper will present also the status of our adaptive optics system and some of the results attained so far with it. We will discuss the integration program of the larger telescopes into the NPOI and the immediate and longer term plans for this facility.
Date of Conference: September 10-14, 2006
Track: Telescopes and Instrumentation