The Navy Optical Interferometer: Status, Science, Ongoing Development
Abstract
The Navy Optical Interferometer (NOI) is a multi-aperture visible-light interferometer located on Anderson Mesa near Flagstaff, Arizona. NOI (formerly NPOI) is operated jointly by the Lowell Observatory, US Naval Observatory, and Naval Research Laboratory. The existing unique sub-milliarcsecond resolution capabilities of NOI are being employed to image stellar surfaces, resolve stellar diameters and orbits, and probe circumstellar disk structures. Funded upgrades for NOI will add longer baselines and upgraded beam combination instrumentation, all of which are slated to become operational over the next 12 months; additional, larger apertures are also under consideration for the facility.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #219
- Pub Date:
- January 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AAS...21942226V