Title:
Astrophysical potentials of the MIDI VLTI instrument
Authors:
Lopez, Bruno; Leinert, Christopher; Graser, Uwe; Waters, Laurens B.; Perrin, Guy; Herbst, Thomas M.; Roettgering, Huub J.; Rouan, Daniel; Stecklum, Bringfried; Mundt, Reinhard; Zinnecker, Hans; de Laverny, Patrick; Feldt, Markus; Meisner, Jeffrey A.; Dutrey, Anne; Henning, Thomas; Vakili, Farrokh
Affiliation:
AA(Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur) AB(Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie) AD(Univ. of Amsterdam) AE(Observatoire de Paris-Meudon) AF(Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie) AG(Univ. of Leiden) AH(Observatoire de Paris-Meudon) AI(Thuringer Landessternwarte Tautenberg) AJ(Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie) AK(Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam) AL(Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur) AM(Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie) AN(Univ. of Leiden) AO(Institut de la RadioAstronomie Millimetrique) AP(Astrophysikalisches Institut und Univ.-Sterwarte) AQ(Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur)
Journal:
Proc. SPIE Vol. 4006, p. 54-67, Interferometry in Optical Astronomy, Pierre J. Lena; Andreas Quirrenbach; Eds. (SPIE Homepage)
Publication Date:
07/2000
Origin:
SPIE
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 2000 SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Bibliographic Code:
2000SPIE.4006...54L

Abstract

The mid-infrared interferometric instrument (MIDI) is planned to become operative at the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) during the year 2001. The first version of MIDI is designed for use of two telescope beams at 10 micrometers wavelength. We here present an overview of some of the scientific objectives. The preparatory work under progress, before first VLTI observations, consists in studying the feasibility of different astrophysical projects (expected visibility, required absolute accuracy of the measurement, required observing time, procedure of observation, and VLTI baseline configuration). As examples we will discuss the observations of disks around young stellar objects, of active galactic nuclei, of extrasolar planets and of some evolved stars.