Edited by Peter Lawson
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Editorial: 5 October 1999
Peter R. Lawson.
5 October 1999
News items from the past two months have been posted regularly. Of special interest is the
news that first fringes have been detected with the new optical table of the GI2T.
Here I include a few more items which have not been posted elsewhere at OLBIN.
Assorted News from JPL
- ST-3 has selected Ball Aerospace to construct the space-craft for the two-element free flying
interferometer. The launce has however been delayed until early 2005.
- Observations with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) continue, even as the Keck Interferometer
enters its "integration phase." As most people involved in the development of PTI are also
involved in the commissioning of the Keck Interferometer, work on PTI is likely to slow down in
the coming year as the emphasis shifts to the larger project. The current season's astronomical
results will be presented at the AAS meeting in Atlanta in January 2000.
- Since October 1997, the Space Interferometry Mission has been considering two different
architectures: "Classic" which has numerous siderostats and a large array of external metrology
beams; and "Son-of-SIM" which has a much simplified external metrology system, but a more
complicated movable system of siderostats. Recently the decision was made to continue work only
with the Classic architecture.
News from the Observatoire de Haute Provence
As related in the Forum PNHRA, the first prototype
boule telescope of the OVLA project saw first light on September 20th.
The mirror is 1.5m in diameter with a thickness of 24mm and uses
a system of active mirror supports to maintain its figure.
Correction for astigmatisn has reduced the rms errors to 1.5 microns.
No spherical aberation was noticeable. (See the original report by
Luc Arnold:
Premiere lumiere du proto OVLA a optique active.)
News from the CHARA Array
Most of the optics of two telescopes are now in place in
preparation for first fringes. Further work is necessary
to install optics in the beam train of the telescopes. Internal fringes in H-band (1.6 microns)
were obtained in the lab for the first time this past Thursday. Tests with the acquisition
systems of the telescopes have been successful and the tip/tilt correcting servos are
operational at video rates. First fringes with starlight are anticipated before Christmas.
Peter Lawson
October 5, 1999
Maintained by Peter Lawson
MS 306-388
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
USA
