Interferometry Web Resources

Introduction

Ground-based optical/infrared interferometry has come of age. With two U.S. facilities currently operational (CHARA and NPOI) and one on the way (MROI), interferometers are producing a wide variety of scientific results. While most of these applications presently impact stellar astrophysics, the extragalactic potential has been demonstrated.

U.S-based facilities have to date produced > 300 refereed science publications, with many more papers describing technical developments. This following information is a representative sampling of the interferometry science currently being done in the U.S. Our goal is to increase awareness within the astronomy community of what interferometry can do for you.

As we approach the next decadal review, it is clear to us that the accomplishments to date of interferometry are significant and argue strongly for further exploitation of our instruments and continued development of the field with the eventual goal of building a next-generation facility with sensitivity and resolution far surpassing that currently available. As a supplement to materials available from our projects, we encourage you to read the report from a workshop Future Directions for Interferometry held in Tucson during November 13 – 15, 2006.

Additional information regarding interferometry in the U.S. and around the world can be found by subscribing to the Optical Long-Baseline Interferometry Newsletter (OLBIN). The OLBIN interactive interferometry publication database maintains a record of all refereed papers related to optical long baseline interferometry.