FIRST RESULTS FROM THE CHARA ARRAY. I. AN INTERFEROMETRIC AND SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF THE FAST ROTATORLEONIS (REGULUS) H. A. McAlister, T. A. ten Brummelaar, D. R. Gies, 1 W. Huang, 1 W. G. Bagnuolo, Jr.,

We report onK-band interferometric observations of the bright, rapidly rotatingstar Regulus (type B7 V) madewith theCHARAArrayonMountWilson,California.Throughacombinationofinterferometricandspectroscopicmeasurements,wehavedeterminedfor Regulustheequatorialandpolardiametersandtemperatures,therotationalvelocityand period, the inclination and position angle of the spin axis, and the gravity darkening coefficient. These first results from the CHARA Array providethefirst interferometric measurement ofgravity darkening inarapidly rotatingstarand represent the first detection of gravity darkening in a star that is not a member of an eclipsing binary system.