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The VLT Interferometer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

T. R. Bedding
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany
J. M. Beckers
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany
M. Faucherre
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany
N. Hubin
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany
B. Koehler
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany
O. von der Lühe
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany
F. Merkle
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany
N. Zhu
Affiliation:
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-W8046 Garching bei München, Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract

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One of the observing modes available with the ESO Very Large Telescope will be coherent combination of the light received by up to four 8 m unit telescopes and several 1.8 m auxiliary telescopes. The location of the main telescopes is fixed, while auxiliary telescopes can be moved among some 30 observing stations. The locations of these stations were chosen to augment the (u, v) coverage of the unit telescopes as well as to function as an independent interferometric array.

The 8 m telescopes will be equipped with adaptive optics to correct for seeing-induced wavefront aberrations. This wavefront correction will be complete at near-infrared wavelengths, giving the interferometer very high sensitivity in this spectral regime. This paper gives a brief description of the VLT Interferometer and an update on its status.

Type
Optical and Infrared Interferometers and Arrays
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1994 

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