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Significant results were obtained and published in the literature. The first optical detection of a circumbinary disk was reported in the ApJ at millimetric wavelengths. The size and inclination of this disk were found to be consistent with millimetric observations. Evidence was found for a cavity inside the disk as theory predicts from dust clearing by the stellar companion.
The Stellar Imager (SI) is envisioned as a space-based, UV-optical interferometer composed of 10 or more one-meter class elements distributed with a maximum baseline of 0.5-km and providing a resolution of 60 micro-arcseconds at 1550 A. It will image stars and binaries with one hundred to one thousand resolution elements on their surface and enable long-term studies of stellar magnetic activity patterns and their evolution with time, for comparison with those on the sun. It will also sound their interiors through asteroseismology to image internal structure, differential rotation, and large-scale circulations. SI will enable us to understand the various effects of magnetic fields of stars, the dynamos that generate these fields, and the internal structure and dynamics of the stars in which these dynamos operate. The ultimate goal of the mission is to achieve the best-possible forecasting of solar activity as a driver of climate and space weather on times scales ranging from months up to decades, and an understanding of the impact of stellar magnetic activity on life in the Universe. The road to that goal will revolutionize our understanding of stars and stellar systems, the building blocks of the Universe. Fitting naturally within the NASA and ESA long-term time lines, SI complements defined missions, and with them will show us entire other solar systems, from the central star to their orbiting planets. In this paper we will describe the scientific goals of the mission, the performance requirements needed to address those goals, and the design concepts now under study.
Observing the lower solar atmosphere with enough linear resolution (< 100 km) to study individual magnetic flux tubes and other features on scales comparable to the photon mean free path has proven to be a challenging and elusive goal. Space-borne instruments based on conventional heavy optics turned out to be too expensive, and adaptive optics on the ground made slow progress for many years. Nevertheless, the scientific case for high-resolution imaging and magnetography has only become more compelling over the last ten years. Today, ground-based adaptive optics is a promising approach for small fields of view at visible wavelengths. Space experiments will need to employ lightweight optics and low cost platforms. The Sunrise balloon experiment is one example. We describe a concept for a sounding rocket experiment that will achieve 0.1-arcsecond imaging using a lightweight, ultraprecise 55-cm mirror in the far ultraviolet (160 nm continuum, Lyman alpha, and possibly C IV 155 nm). The f/1.2 parabolic primary mirror is entering the final stages of production. The mirror is a ULE honeycomb design with front and back face sheets. The front sheet will be figured to 6.3 nm rms with microroughness 1 nm or better. For the initial proof of concept, we describe a no-frills, high-cadence imager aboard a Black Brant sounding rocket. Development of lightweight UV/EUV optics at Goddard Space Flight Center has been supported by the Internal Research and Development program.
The authors present Keck LWS images of the Orion BN/KL star forming region obtained in the first multi-wavelength study to have 0.3--0.5 resolution from 4.7 (micro)m to 22 (micro)m. The young stellar objects designed infrared source n and radio source I are believed to dominate the BN/KL region. They have detected extended emission from a probable accretion disk around source n but infer a stellar luminosity on the order of only 2000 L(sub (center-dot)).
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We present the observations and analysis of teh spectral linewidths of neutral and ion species across teh DR21(OH) core to investigate the cyclotron interaction as a probe of magnetic fields.
The Wide-Field Imaging Interferometry Testbed (WIIT) was designed to develop techniques for wide-field of view imaging interferometry, using "double-Fourier" methods. These techniques will be important for a wide range of future spacebased interferometry missions. We have provided simple demonstrations of the methodology already, and continuing development of the testbed will lead to higher data rates, improved data quality, and refined algorithms for image reconstruction. At present, the testbed effort includes five lines of development; automation of the testbed, operation in an improved environment, acquisition of large high-quality datasets, development of image reconstruction algorithms, and analytical modeling of the testbed. We discuss the progress made towards the first four of these goals; the analytical modeling is discussed in a separate paper within this conference.
The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) mission requires a lightweight and high throughput spectroscopic telescope. The fabrication, alignment, and integration of this mirror assembly require breakthroughs in many areas. In this paper we report on our recent progress in all these areas, including mirror fabrication, coating, metrology, alignment, mechanical characteristics, and their integration into mirror modules. In particular, we will also outline our plan for the next few of years, showing approaches that will progress toward reaching the 5' HPD requirement.
The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) mission requires a lightweight and high throughput spectroscopic telescope. The fabrication, alignment, and integration of this mirror assembly require breakthroughs in many areas. In this paper we report on our recent progress in all these areas, including mirror fabrication, coating, metrology, alignment, mechanical characteristics, and their integration into mirror modules. In particular, we will also outline our plan for the next few of years, showing approaches that will progress toward reaching the 5" HPD requirement.
Over the past twenty years the U. C. Berkeley Infrared Spatial Interferometer has observed a number of Long Period Variable stars in the mid-infrared, obtaining information on the spatial distribution of dust around these stars with resolutions of the order of a few tens of milliarcseconds. The ISI is a heterodyne interferometer operating mostly at 11.15 microns, initially with two telescopes. In the last decade, it has been taking data regularly with three telescopes, thus obtaining visibility data on three baselines and also a closure phase. Over the course of the years, the ISI has been able to measure the physical properties of the dust shells surrounding these stars, in particular the inner radii of the dust shells, as well as the temperature and density distribution. For some stars, the ISI has also made precision measurements of their diameters in the mid-infrared. Closure phase measurements have revealed asymmetries in the dust distributions around many stars. Most surprisingly the ISI data has shown evidence for substantial changes in the amount of dust on time scales of 5-10 years, rather than being directly correlated with the stellar pulsation periods, which are of the order of one year. We discuss past results and new results from the ISI that highlight the dynamic environment around these stars.
The most X-ray luminous cluster known, RXJ1347-1145 (z = 0.45), has been the object of extensive study across the electromagnetic spectrum. We have imaged the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) at 90 GHz (lambda = 33 mm) in RXJ1347-1145 at 10" resolution with the 64 pixel MUSTANG bolometer array on the Green Bank Telescope, confirming a previously reported strong, localized enhancement of the SZE 20" to the southeast of the center of X-ray emission. This enhancement of the SZE has been interpreted as shock-heated (>20keV) gas caused by an ongoing major (low mass ratio) merger event. Our data support this interpretation. We also detect a pronounced asymmetry in the projected cluster pressure profile, with the pressure just east of the cluster core approx. 1.6x higher than just to the west. This is the highest resolution image of the SZE made to date.
The Stellar Imager (SI) is a space-based, UV/ Optical Interferometer (UVOI) designed to enable 0.1 milliarcsecond (mas) spectral imaging of stellar surfaces and of the Universe in general. It will also probe via asteroseismology flows and structures in stellar interiors. SI's science focuses on the role of magnetism in the Universe and will revolutionize our understanding, of the formation of planetary systems, of the habitability and climatology of distant planets, and of many magneto-hydrodynamically controlled processes, such as accretion, in the Universe. The ultra-sharp images of SI will revolutionize our view of many dynamic astrophysical processes by transforming point sources into extended sources, and snapshots into evolving views. SI is a "Flagship and Landmark Discovery Mission" in the 2005 Heliophysics Roadmap and a potential implementation of the UVOI in the 2006 Science Program for NASA's Astronomy and Physics Division. We present here the science goals of the SI Mission, a mission architecture that could meet those goals, and the technology development needed to enable this missin. Additional information on SI can be found at: http://hires.gsfc.nasa.gov/si/.
X-ray astronomy depends on the availability of telescopes with high resolution and large photon collecting areas. Since x-ray observation can only be carried out above the atmosphere, these telescopes must be necessarily lightweight. Compounding the lightweight requirement is that an x-ray telescope consists of many nested concentric shells, which further require that x-ray mirrors must also be geometrically thin to achieve high packing efficiency. This double lightweight and geometrically thin requirement poses significant technical challenges in fabricating the mirrors and in integrating them into mirror assemblies. This paper reports on the approach, strategy and status of our x-ray optics development program whose objective is to meet these technical challenges at modest cost to enable future x-ray missions, including small Explorer missions in the near term, probe class missions in the medium term, and large flagship missions in the long term.
We are now in an era where we can image details on the surfaces of stars. When resolving stellar surfaces, we see that every surface is uniquely complicated. Each imaged star provides insight into not only the stellar surface structures, but also the stellar interiors suggesting constraints on evolution and dynamo models. As more resources become operational in the coming years, imaging stellar surfaces should become commonplace for revealing the true nature of stars. Here, we discuss the main types of stars for which imaging surface features is currently useful and what improved observing techniques would provide for imaging stellar surface features.
No abstract provided
The far-infrared and submillimeter region (20 microns-800 microns) has perhaps the greatest potential of all wavelengths for advancement in astronomy. When viewed in terms of the cosmic backgrounds, the far-IR is extremely important: half of the total luminosity in the Universe is emitted at rest wavelengths approximately 80-100 microns. At the highest known galaxy redshifts (z approximately equal to 6) this energy is redshifted to approximately 600 microns. Existing and planned missions have a broad range of capabilities, defined in terms of their spectral coverage, spectral resolution, angular resolution, mapping speed, and sensitivity. In this 5-dimensional parameter space, the far-IR is substantially be-hind most other wavelength bands. The opportunity for future missions with great discovery potential is evident. Such missions will be well-suited to answering fundamental questions about the history of energy release in the Universe, the formation and evolution of galaxies, and formation of stellar and protoplanetary systems. We discuss the parameter space that can be filled by a few well-chosen space missions, specifically a submillimeter all-sky survey and a far-IR to submillimeter observatory. Ultimately, a long baseline submillimeter interferometer is necessary to provide sensitivity and angular resolution.