Publications
of the
MPIfR
Optical & Infrared
Interferometry Group
H. Zinnecker, G. Hasinger, J. Storm and
G. Weigelt:
Interferometry with the Large Binocular
Telescope
Astronomische Gesellschaft Meeting Abstracts
(AGM 14, L07)
Talk presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Astronomische
Gesellschaft
at Heidelberg, September 14-19, 1998
Abstract.
The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), with its two 8.4m telescopes
separated
by 14.4m (centre-to-centre), is scheduled to be ready for
interferometric
observations in the combined beam by the year 2004. To be
operational in this mode, adaptive optics wave front correction must
first
be applied (using adaptive secondary mirrors) to each of the two
individual
telescopes and then the optical path length difference between the
``two eyes" needs to be measured and corrected for in real time
(fringe tracking). This will allow the investigation of the structure
of
astronomical objects at 10 times the spatial resolution of the Hubble
Space Telescope. First observations are likely to concentrate on the
near
(2 micron) or mid (10 micron) infrared wavelength region.
Science on the extragalactic side includes deep imaging studies of the
Hubble Deep Field, the Lockman Hole, active galactic nuclei and their
circumnuclear starbursts, and of star formation in colliding/merging
high-redshift galaxies. On the galactic side, science with the LBT
interferometer will focus on obtaining true images of
circumstellar/protoplanetary disks around young stars and on direct
imaging of giant planets in orbit around many nearby stars.
Differential astrometry at the 1 mas level over a
wide FOV (1-2 arcmin) in the the near-infrared should also become
possible,
e.g. for proper motion measurements of distant Galactic halo stars
against
some quasar reference. More about interferometry with
the LBT can be found in a recent article by Angel et al. accessible at
http://medusa.as.arizona.edu/lbtwww/tech/interf98.htm.
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