Some design considerations for an extremely large synthesis array

Andreas Quirrenbach

doi:10.1117/12.566228

7 July 2004 Some design considerations for an extremely large synthesis array

Andreas Quirrenbach

Proceedings Volume 5382, Second Backaskog Workshop on Extremely Large Telescopes; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.566228
Event: Second Backaskog Workshop on Extremely Large Telescopes, 2003, Backaskog, Sweden

Abstract

An Extremely Large Synthesis Array (ELSA) with 27 ten-meter telescopes and baseline lengths up to 10 km would provide completely new insight into many astrophysics phenomena. It could be used to obtain resolved images of nearby brown dwarfs which would reveal weather phenomena in their atmospheres, to give detailed pictures of stellar surfaces and interacting binaries, to study general-relativistic effects on the orbits of stars near the center of our Galaxy, to obtain "movies" of expanding supernovae, to image the broad-line regions of active galaxies, and to measure the geometry of the fireballs producing the afterglow of gamma-ray bursts. Observations of faint objects will be possible by using an external reference star to co-phase the array. Telescopes with large diameters are essential to provide good sky coverage in this observing mode. The use of optical fibers for beam transport and delay compensation is highly desirable, as this eliminates the need for an expensive beam train with meter-sized optical elements, and a very large vacuum system. Advances in telescope technology and fiber optics expected for the next decade may bring the cost of ELSA into a range that would be affordable for an international project.

Citation Download Citation

Andreas Quirrenbach "Some design considerations for an extremely large synthesis array", Proc. SPIE 5382, Second Backaskog Workshop on Extremely Large Telescopes, (7 July 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.566228

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