Title:
Fibered large interferometer on top of Mauna Kea: OHANA, the optical Hawaiian array for nanoradian astronomy
Authors:
Perrin, Guy; Lai, Olivier; Lena, Pierre J.; Coude du Foresto, Vincent
Affiliation:
AA(Observatoire de Paris-Meudon) AB(Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corp.) AC(Observatoire de Paris-Meudon)
Journal:
Proc. SPIE Vol. 4006, p. 708-714, 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..708P

Abstract

The Mauna Kea site houses two eight-meter and two ten-meter class telescopes which will soon by fully operational. In addition to other existing large telescopes already available, the Mauna Kea summit offers a unique opportunity to build a large optical and infrared interferometer in the northern hemisphere with both the highest angular resolution and the highest sensitivity. We discuss the possibility to recombine with single-mode fibers this array whose large telescopes will all be equipped with adaptive optics facilities. We show the tremendous potential of this instrument for astrophysics and how complementary it is to other large arrays now under construction.