+ View the NASA Portal

Search OLBIN

Optical Long Baseline Interferometry News

This page provides a list of resources for students and researchers who are new to the field of stellar interferometry. It provides a list of reading material and links to tutorial web pages that teach the basics of interferometry. The current and potential targets of stellar interferometry are discussed in depth in the Annual Reviews papers in the selected reading that follows. For information of a more technical nature and for links to current and future interferometry projects please consult the Links page of OLBIN. For information about radio interferometry please consult the Education page of the National Radio Astronomy Obsevatory. For links to adaptive optics projects a good place to start is the Other AO Projects page of the University of Hawaii AO Group.

Selected Reading in Long Baseline Stellar Interferometry

The following reading list provides a good introduction to the principles and practice of optical long-baseline interferometry. The Annual Reviews papers contain an extensive bibliography, and many of the key papers in the field (up until 1997) are contained in the SPIE Milestone volume. Appendix B (PDF 208 K) of Principles of Long Baseline Stellar Interferometry contains a wide range and more up to date list of references covering the existing interferometers.

Astrophysics with optical interferometers

Optical Interferometry
Andreas Quirrenbach
Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 39, 353-401 (2001).
Long baseline optical and infrared stellar interferometry
M. Shao and M.M. Colavita
Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 30, 457-498 (1992).

Engineering and Technology

Principles of Long Baseline Stellar Interferometry. P.R. Lawson, editor (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2000). Course notes from the 1999 Michelson Interferometry Summer School. Copies available free of charge by email request to lawsonhuey.jpl.nasa.gov.
Selected Papers on Long Baseline Stellar Interferometry P.R. Lawson, editor (SPIE Press: Bellingham WA, 1997). SPIE Milestone volume of papers covering stellar interferometry from 1868 to 1996.

Stellar Interferometry Explained on the Web

What is a stellar interferometer? From Scientific American's Ask the Experts.
Why use an interferometer? from the NPOI web pages.
An Introduction to Interferometry from the Mount Wilson Observatory.
Introduction to Interferometry, by Tim Bedding, Univ. Sydney.
Astronomical Optical Interferometry described by Bob Tubbs, Cambridge University.
Astronomical Interferometry in the Optical and Infrared, by Gerard van Belle and Robert R. Thompson.

Web Animations Illustrating Interferometry

Interactive Interferometry Demo from the Space Interferometry Mission.
Virtual Radio Interferometer. A Java applet that simulates how radio interferometers work.
MPEG Movies that simulate aperture synthesis - from the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Images Illustrating Astronomical Interferometry

Speckle Image of Capella from COAST File Archive.
First Llight with the VLTI schematic of interferometer and fringes from a star.
Desktop Interferometer
Aluminium Foil Interferometer

Email Discussion Groups

Forum Haute Resolution Angulaire [old address: Forum] from LAOG.
Optical Long Baseline Interferometry News Forum

Interferometry Summer Schools

Michelson Interferometry Summer Schools
- 1999 Michelson Interferometry Summer School.
- 2000 Michelson Interferometry Summer School, web-based course notes.
- 2001 Michelson Interferometry Summer School, web-based course notes.
- 2002 Michelson Interferometry Summer School, web-based course notes.
- 2003 Michelson Interferometry Summer School, web-based course notes.

History of Stellar Interferometry

A.A. Michelson links with biographical information.
H. Fizeau photograph and biography.
E. Stephan photograph and his own History of the Observatoire de Marseille (in French).
Foucault 80-cm telescope at the Observatoire de Marseille
Mount Wilson Observatory Virtual Tour
- A.A. Michelson at Mnt Wilson.
- Michelson and the 20ft Interferometer.
- F.G. Pease and the 50ft Interferometer.
- The Mark III Interferometer.

The following interferometers have ceased operations - the indicated dates are approximately the dates that the interferometers were operational: 20ft (1920-1931), 50ft (1931-1938), Intensity Interferometer (1964-1976), I2T (1974-1987), Mark I (1979), Mark II (1982-1984), 11.4m prototype (1985-1988), SOIR D'ETE (1979-1993), IRMA (1990-1992), Mark III (1986-1993), I2T/CHARON (1993-1996), and MIRA-I (1998-1999).

A Timeline of Stellar Interferometry shows the development of these interferometers from 1955 up until January 2000.

The sites that I would most recommend for a visit are the A.A. Michelson links, the Mnt Wilson Virtual Tour, the Virtual Radio Interferometer, and the Origins Web Site.

If you see errors or oversights on this page, please contact me. Suggestions for changes are always welcome.

Peter Lawson
lawsonhuey.jpl.nasa.gov

Maintained by Peter Lawson
MS 301-451, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109

Webmaster: Peter R. Lawson