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Future prospects for stellar intensity interferometry

Abstract

Full text: The technique of Stellar Intensity lnterferometry (SII) was first successfully demonstrated by Hanbury-Brown in 1956 at Jodrell Bank. SII uses the correlation in intensity fluctuations of starlight as a function of observational baseline to determine angular diameters and other gross features of main sequence stars. In 1962 an observatory was established by Hanbury-Brown in Narrabri NSW. Between 1965 and 1972 the angular diameters of 32 stars covering the spectral range O to F were measured. Orbital parameters of several unresolved binary stars were also determined and attempts were made by the author to directly measure the limb darkening of Sirius and the rotational distortion of Altair. Following the success of the Narrabri SII the Australian Federal Government provided a grant to Sydney University to develop a Very Large SII capable of making observational measurements on about a thousand stars. The development of this VLSII was however shelved in preference to the development of a potentially more sensitive long baseline Michelson Stellar Interferometer. This latter instrument known as SUSI (Sydney University Stellar Interferometer) has been in operation at Narrabri since 1995. Encouraged by the early results of SUSI and their own efforts in the use of active optics to  More>>
Authors:
Lake, R J.W. [1] 
  1. Advanced Measurement and Control Pty Ltd, (Australia)
Publication Date:
Jul 01, 2002
Product Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: 15. Biennial Congress of the Australian Institute of Physics. Physics and industry working together, Sydney, NSW (Australia), 8-11 Jul 2002; Other Information: PBD: 2002; Related Information: In: 15th Biennial Congress of the Australian Institute of Physics incorporating Australian Conference of Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT) and Australian Optical Society (AOS). Handbook and abstracts, 235 pages.
Subject:
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; APERTURES; BINARY STARS; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; FLUCTUATIONS; FUNCTIONS; INTERFEROMETRY; MAIN SEQUENCE STARS; MICHELSON INTERFEROMETER; SCINTILLATIONS; SENSITIVITY; SIMULATION
OSTI ID:
20619818
Research Organizations:
Australian Institute of Physics (Australia)
Country of Origin:
Australia
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
TRN: AU0524496063468
Availability:
Available in abstract form only, full text entered in this record
Submitting Site:
INIS
Size:
page(s) 112
Announcement Date:
Aug 28, 2005

Citation Formats

Lake, R J.W. Future prospects for stellar intensity interferometry. Australia: N. p., 2002. Web.
Lake, R J.W. Future prospects for stellar intensity interferometry. Australia.
Lake, R J.W. 2002. "Future prospects for stellar intensity interferometry." Australia.
@misc{etde_20619818,
title = {Future prospects for stellar intensity interferometry}
author = {Lake, R J.W.}
abstractNote = {Full text: The technique of Stellar Intensity lnterferometry (SII) was first successfully demonstrated by Hanbury-Brown in 1956 at Jodrell Bank. SII uses the correlation in intensity fluctuations of starlight as a function of observational baseline to determine angular diameters and other gross features of main sequence stars. In 1962 an observatory was established by Hanbury-Brown in Narrabri NSW. Between 1965 and 1972 the angular diameters of 32 stars covering the spectral range O to F were measured. Orbital parameters of several unresolved binary stars were also determined and attempts were made by the author to directly measure the limb darkening of Sirius and the rotational distortion of Altair. Following the success of the Narrabri SII the Australian Federal Government provided a grant to Sydney University to develop a Very Large SII capable of making observational measurements on about a thousand stars. The development of this VLSII was however shelved in preference to the development of a potentially more sensitive long baseline Michelson Stellar Interferometer. This latter instrument known as SUSI (Sydney University Stellar Interferometer) has been in operation at Narrabri since 1995. Encouraged by the early results of SUSI and their own efforts in the use of active optics to reduce the effects of atmospheric scintillation a number of international observatories are now active in the development of long baseline or large aperture Michelson Stellar Interferometers. However SII while sacrificing sensitivity has a number of technical advantages over MSI as SII is far less sensitive to atmospheric effects and can be readily developed to work over very long baselines. This paper through technical review and theoretical modeling examines how a modern VLSII could be constructed and operated and addresses the limitations to its sensitivity. In particular it examines how existing Australian industry could contribute to the development of a VLSII with sufficient sensitivity to fill the gap in observational measurements until the advent of large space based observatories.}
place = {Australia}
year = {2002}
month = {Jul}
}