The Navy Precision Optical Interferometer: an update

We describe the current status of the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI), including developments since the last SPIE meeting. The NPOI group has added stations as far as 250m from the array center and added numerous infrastructure improvements. Science programs include stellar diameters and limb darkening, binary orbits, Be star disks, exoplanet host stars, and progress toward high-resolution stellar surface imaging. Technical and infrastructure projects include on-sky demonstrations of baseline bootstrapping with six array elements and of the VISION beam combiner, control system updates, integration of the long delay lines, and updated firmware for the Classic beam combiner. Our plans to add up to four 1.8 m telescopes are no longer viable, but we have recently acquired separate funding for adding three 1 m AO-equipped telescopes and an infrared beam combiner to the array.

[1]  G. C. Gilbreath,et al.  Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer Imaging of Line Emission Regions of beta Lyrae Using Differential Phase Referencing , 2008, 0801.4772.

[2]  Brian R. Greene,et al.  The EOS Space Debris Tracking System , 2006 .

[3]  J. Thomas Armstrong,et al.  NAVY PRECISION OPTICAL INTERFEROMETER OBSERVATIONS OF THE EXOPLANET HOST κ CORONAE BOREALIS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STAR'S AND PLANET'S MASSES AND AGES , 2013, 1306.4322.

[4]  G. C. Gilbreath,et al.  Vega is a rapidly rotating star , 2006, Nature.

[5]  Anders M. Jorgensen,et al.  A new, fast, data acquisition system for the NPOI , 2012, Other Conferences.

[6]  Rafael Millan-Gabet,et al.  Michigan Infrared Combiner (MIRC): commissioning results at the CHARA Array , 2006, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[7]  Nicholas M. Elias,et al.  Array metrology system for an optical long-baseline interferometer , 2003, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[8]  David Mozurkewich,et al.  Multi-baseline Bootstrapping and Imaging with the NPOI , 2015 .

[9]  A. M. Jorgensen,et al.  The new classic data acquisition system for NPOI , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[10]  K. Newman,et al.  6-station, 5-baseline fringe tracking with the new classic data acquisition system at the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[11]  James A. Benson,et al.  NPOI: A progress report , 2003, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[12]  R. T. Zavala,et al.  Multitechnique testing of the viscous decretion disk model - I. The stable and tenuous disk of the late-type Be star β CMi , 2015, 1510.01229.

[13]  James H. Clark,et al.  THE NAVY PRECISION OPTICAL INTERFEROMETER (NPOI): AN UPDATE , 2013 .

[14]  J. Armstrong,et al.  The Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer , 1998 .

[15]  D. Hutter,et al.  THE SPATIALLY RESOLVED Hα-EMITTING WIND STRUCTURE OF P CYGNI , 2007, 1004.0376.

[16]  Braden E. Hines,et al.  The Mark III stellar interferometer , 1988 .

[17]  Freddie Santiago,et al.  Meter class carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) telescope program at the Naval Research Laboratory , 2008, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[18]  Christian A. Hummel,et al.  THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL ORBIT AND PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF 47 OPH , 2015 .

[19]  James A. Benson,et al.  Observing the PTPS sample of evolved exoplanet host candidates using the NPOI , 2016, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[20]  M. Wittkowski,et al.  Tests of stellar model atmospheres by optical interferometry III: NPOI and VINCI interferometry of , 2006, astro-ph/0610149.

[21]  J. T. Armstrong,et al.  The Navy prototype optical interferometer: recent developments since 2004 , 2006, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[22]  John D. Monnier,et al.  Building the next-generation science camera for the Navy Optical Interferometer , 2012, Other Conferences.

[23]  John D. Monnier,et al.  Interferometry of $\epsilon$ Aurigae: Characterization of the asymmetric eclipsing disk , 2015 .

[24]  John D. Monnier,et al.  IMAGING DISK DISTORTION OF BE BINARY SYSTEM δ SCORPII NEAR PERIASTRON , 2012 .

[25]  J.-U. Pott,et al.  First results using PRIMA FSU as a fringe tracker for MIDI , 2010, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

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

[27]  James A. Benson,et al.  Multiple-baseline detection of a geostationary satellite with the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer , 2015, SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications.

[28]  David Mozurkewich,et al.  Bootstrapping the NPOI: keeping long baselines in phase by tracking fringes on short baselines , 1998, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[29]  James A. Benson,et al.  NPOI: recent progress and future prospects , 2008, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[30]  Benjamin F. Lane,et al.  PREDICTING THE α COMAE BERENICES TIME OF ECLIPSE : HOW 3 AMBIGUOUS MEASUREMENTS OUT OF 609 CAUSED A 26 YEAR BINARY ’ S ECLIPSE TO BE MISSED , 2015 .

[31]  R. T. Zavala,et al.  THE CIRCUMSTELLAR DISK OF THE Be STAR o AQUARII AS CONSTRAINED BY SIMULTANEOUS SPECTROSCOPY AND OPTICAL INTERFEROMETRY , 2015, 1510.01980.

[32]  K. Newman,et al.  Progress toward unprecedented imaging of stellar surfaces with the Navy precision optical interferometer , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[33]  David Mozurkewich.  Hybrid design for a six-way beam combiner , 1994, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[34]  S. Thomas,et al.  Two B's, or Not Two B's? An NPOI Survey of Massive Stars , 2014 .

[35]  European Southern Observatory,et al.  The Revised Orbit of the Delta Sco System , 2011 .

[36]  Christian A. Hummel,et al.  Binary Studies with the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer , 2013 .

[37]  D. J. Hutter,et al.  From fringes to the USNO Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer Astrometric Catalog , 2010, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[38]  James A. Benson,et al.  NPOI: recent technology and science , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[39]  James H. Clark,et al.  Vision: A Six-telescope Fiber-fed Visible Light Beam Combiner for the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer , 2016, 1601.00036.

[40]  D. B. Shaffer,et al.  THE ALGOL TRIPLE SYSTEM SPATIALLY RESOLVED AT OPTICAL WAVELENGTHS , 2010, 1005.0626.

[41]  Donald J Hutter,et al.  Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer observations of geosynchronous satellites. , 2011, Applied optics.