Multichannel optical aperture synthesis imaging of lambda1 URSAE majoris with the Navy prototype optical interferometer.

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Abstract

We have used the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI) to obtain the first multi-channel optical aperture synthesis images of a star. We observed the spectroscopic binary zeta (1) Ursae Majoris at 6 to 10 milliarcseconds separation during seven nights, using three interferometric baselines and 19 spectral channels (lambda lambda520 - 850 nm) of the NPOI. After editing, a typical 90 sec scan yielded fringe visibilities at 50 spatial frequencies and closure phases at 15 wavelengths. Three to five scans were obtained each night. The separations and position angles are in good agreement with the visual orbit obtained with the Mark III interferometer (Hummel et al.markcite{hum1} 1995 [AJ, 110, 376]) but show small systematic difference that can be used to improve the orbit. The closure phase data provide a sensitive measure of the magnitude difference between the components. These results demonstrate the power of broad-band interferometric observations for fast imaging and the utility of vacuum delay lines for simultaneous observations over a wide band. These observations are the first to produce simultaneous visibilities and closure phases with a separate-aperture optical interferometer, and the second to produce closure phase images, following the results from COAST reported by Baldwin et al.markcite{bal} (1996 [A&A, 306, L13]). The angular resolution here is the highest ever achieved at visual wavelengths, exceeding by an order of magnitude the best thus far achieved by any single-aperture optical telescope. We generated complex visibilities and closure phases (the data types commonly used in radio interferometry) from the optical data and used standard radio interferometry techniques to produce these images. However, the fundamental observables of optical interferometry, the squared visibility amplitude and the closure phase, require the development of new analysis techniques.

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