Kilometer-baseline interferometry: science drivers for the next generation instrument

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bourdarot, G., Eisenhauer, F.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914996928118784
author Bourdarot, G.
Eisenhauer, F.
author_facet Bourdarot, G.
Eisenhauer, F.
contents Infrared interferometry has seen a revolution over the last few years. The advent of GRAVITY+ is about to enable high-contrast observations, all-sky coverage and faint science up to K=21, with the implementation on 8m-class telescope of extreme adaptive optics, wide-field observations, and soon laser guide stars, following a long-term vision of technological and infrastructure development at VLTI. This major progress in sensitivity lift a fundamental limitation of infrared interferometry, namely the brightness temperature achievable with this technique down to milli-arcsecond resolution imaging. This change of paradigm is a crucial element for the expansion of current arrays to a facility up to one to ten kilometer baselines. Micro-arcsecond scales imaging in the infrared on thermal objects, reaching the highest angular resolution possible even compared to VLBI, could offer a unique window in observational astronomy for the next generation instrument.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_22063
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Kilometer-baseline interferometry: science drivers for the next generation instrument
Bourdarot, G.
Eisenhauer, F.
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Infrared interferometry has seen a revolution over the last few years. The advent of GRAVITY+ is about to enable high-contrast observations, all-sky coverage and faint science up to K=21, with the implementation on 8m-class telescope of extreme adaptive optics, wide-field observations, and soon laser guide stars, following a long-term vision of technological and infrastructure development at VLTI. This major progress in sensitivity lift a fundamental limitation of infrared interferometry, namely the brightness temperature achievable with this technique down to milli-arcsecond resolution imaging. This change of paradigm is a crucial element for the expansion of current arrays to a facility up to one to ten kilometer baselines. Micro-arcsecond scales imaging in the infrared on thermal objects, reaching the highest angular resolution possible even compared to VLBI, could offer a unique window in observational astronomy for the next generation instrument.
title Kilometer-baseline interferometry: science drivers for the next generation instrument
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.22063