VLT Unit Telescope suitability for interferometry: first results from acceptance tests on subsystems

Bertrand Koehler

doi:10.1117/12.317104

24 July 1998 VLT Unit Telescope suitability for interferometry: first results from acceptance tests on subsystems

Bertrand Koehler

Proceedings Volume 3350, Astronomical Interferometry; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.317104
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 1998, Kona, HI, United States

Abstract

The very large telescope (VLT) project includes an interferometric mode which consists in combining coherently the four 8-m telescopes as well as a number of 1.8-m Auxiliary Telescopes to achieve milli-arcsecond angular resolution. This mode, referred to as the VLT Interferometer (VLTI), imposes specific requirements on the whole observatory and, in particular, on the telescopes. One of these specific requirements is the very high stability required on the optical path length (OPL) at the level of a few tens of nanometers. To verify the feasibility of achieving this requirement, a number of studies have been preformed in the past years with encouraging results. In the last months, the readiness of major VLT sub-systems permitted to start the verification of these conclusions by test. This paper presents these first results on OPL stability obtained during acceptance testing on several subsystems of the VLT 8-m Unit Telescopes.

Citation Download Citation

Bertrand Koehler "VLT Unit Telescope suitability for interferometry: first results from acceptance tests on subsystems", Proc. SPIE 3350, Astronomical Interferometry, (24 July 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.317104

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