Recent highlights from The CHARA Array

The CHARA Array is an optical/infrared interferometer that combines the light from six 1-meter telescopes. With baselines ranging from 34 to 331 meters, CHARA provides sub-milliarcsecond resolution to measure stellar diameters, image stellar surfaces, resolve close binary companions, and study circumstellar environments. In this paper, we present recent highlights from the CHARA Array, focusing on the implementation of adaptive optics, the ongoing development of next generation beam combiners, an update on the community access program, and a discussion about future developments.

[1]  Theo ten Brummelaar,et al.  SPICA, a new 6T visible beam combiner for CHARA: science, design and interfaces , 2018, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[2]  Rafael Millan-Gabet,et al.  The Inner Disk of RY Tau: Evidence of Stellar Occultation by the Disk Atmosphere at the Sublimation Rim from K-band Continuum Interferometry , 2020, The Astrophysical Journal.

[3]  John D. Monnier,et al.  The MIRC-X 6-telescope imager: key science drivers, instrument design and operation , 2018, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[4]  In-laboratory ALOHA mid-infrared up-conversion interferometer in the photon counting regime at λ = 3.39 μm , 2017 .

[5]  J. Monnier,et al.  A Geometrical 1% Distance to the Short-period Binary Cepheid V1334 Cygni , 2018, The Astrophysical Journal.

[7]  Rafael Millan-Gabet,et al.  The Michigan Infrared Combiner (MIRC): IR imaging with the CHARA Array , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[8]  S. Ridgway,et al.  THE CLASSIC/CLIMB BEAM COMBINER AT THE CHARA ARRAY , 2013 .

[9]  M. Ireland,et al.  Angular Sizes and Effective Temperatures of O-type Stars from Optical Interferometry with the CHARA Array , 2018, The Astrophysical Journal.

[10]  N. Scott,et al.  ALOHA 1.55μm Implementation on the CHARA Telescope Array: On-Sky Sensitivity Tests , 2016 .

[11]  H McAlister,et al.  Imaging the Surface of Altair , 2007, Science.

[12]  John D. Monnier,et al.  MIRC-X: A Highly Sensitive Six-telescope Interferometric Imager at the CHARA Array , 2020, The Astronomical Journal.

[13]  Romain G. Petrov,et al.  VEGA: Visible spEctroGraph and polArimeter for the CHARA array: principle and performance , 2009 .

[14]  John D. Monnier,et al.  The CHARA array adaptive optics program , 2018, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[15]  First On-Sky Fringes with an Up-Conversion Interferometer Tested on a Telescope Array. , 2016, Physical review letters.

[16]  W. Gieren,et al.  Calibrating the surface brightness – color relation for late-type red giants stars in the visible domain using VEGA/CHARA interferometric observations , 2020, 2006.16609.

[17]  Russel J. White,et al.  STELLAR DIAMETERS AND TEMPERATURES. II. MAIN-SEQUENCE K- AND M-STARS , 2012, 1208.2431.

[18]  S. T. Ridgway,et al.  First Results from the CHARA Array. II. A Description of the Instrument , 2005 .

[19]  M. Ireland,et al.  Fundamental stellar parameters of benchmark stars from CHARA interferometry , 2020, Astronomy & Astrophysics.

[20]  J. Monnier,et al.  Viscous Heating and Boundary Layer Accretion in the Disk of Outbursting Star FU Orionis , 2020, 2011.07865.

[21]  John D. Monnier,et al.  A triple-star system with a misaligned and warped circumstellar disk shaped by disk tearing , 2020, Science.

[22]  J. Sturmann,et al.  No Sun-like dynamo on the active star ζ Andromedae from starspot asymmetry , 2016, Nature.

[23]  Ennio Poretti,et al.  From the stellar properties of HD 219134 to the internal compositions of its transiting exoplanets , 2019, Astronomy & Astrophysics.

[24]  Laurent Jocou,et al.  MYSTIC: Michigan Young STar Imager at CHARA , 2018, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[25]  N. Scott,et al.  Proposal for the Implementation of the ALOHA Up-Conversion Interferometer on the CHARA Telescope Array , 2014 .

[26]  F. Millour,et al.  Optical interferometry and Gaia measurement uncertainties reveal the physics of asymptotic giant branch stars , 2020, 2006.07318.

[27]  E. K. Baines,et al.  First Results from the CHARA Array. I. An Interferometric and Spectroscopic Study of the Fast Rotator α Leonis (Regulus) , 2005 .

[28]  Peter G. Tuthill,et al.  Sensitive visible interferometry with PAVO , 2008, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.