Lunar occultations: a relevant technique for very large telescopes?

Bringfried Stecklum

doi:10.1117/12.176734

1 June 1994 Lunar occultations: a relevant technique for very large telescopes?

Bringfried Stecklum

Proceedings Volume 2198, Instrumentation in Astronomy VIII; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.176734
Event: 1994 Symposium on Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation for the 21st Century, 1994, Kailua, Kona, HI, United States

Abstract

Apart from the limitation set by the brightness of the object to be occulted, there are two reasons for the reduced sensitivity of the method of the lunar occultations (LO) in its current implementation. First, the integration of the diffraction pattern over the aperture of the telescope suppresses high spatial frequencies. Secondly, the application of broad-band filters has the same influence due to the wavelength integration. We illustrate a method which is suited to overcome both problems simultaneously. This method (1) increases the sensitivity of LO in terms of both limiting magnitude and angular resolution, (2) is especially suited for very large telescopes in combination with modern 2D detectors, (3) enables the estimation of the brightness profiles as a function of wavelength, and (4) leads to a better resolution of close binaries of different spectral type. A comparison between the application of this novel method and the use of a single element detector is made by numerical simulation.

Citation Download Citation

Bringfried Stecklum "Lunar occultations: a relevant technique for very large telescopes?", Proc. SPIE 2198, Instrumentation in Astronomy VIII, (1 June 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.176734

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