Fizeau interferometry from space: a challenging frontier in global astrometry

Davide Loreggia; Daniele Gardiol; Mario Gai; Mario G. Lattanzi; Deborah Busonero

doi:10.1117/12.551386

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20 October 2004 Fizeau interferometry from space: a challenging frontier in global astrometry

Davide Loreggia, Daniele Gardiol, Mario Gai, Mario G. Lattanzi, Deborah Busonero

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Proceedings Volume 5491, New Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551386
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

The design and performance of a Fizeau interferometer with long focal length and large field of view are discussed. The optical scheme presented is well suited for very accurate astrometric measurements from space, being optimised, in terms of geometry and aberrations, to observe astronomical targets down to the visual magnitude mV=20, with a measurement accuracy of 10 microarcseconds at mV=15. This study is in the context of the next generation astrometric space missions, in particular for a mission profile similar to that of the Gaia mission of the European Space Agency. Beyond the accuracy goal, the great effort in optical aberrations reduction, particularly distortion, aims at the optimal exploitation of data acquisition done with CCD arrays working in Time Delay Integration mode. The design solution we present reaches the astrometric goals with a field of view of 0.5 square degrees.

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Davide Loreggia, Daniele Gardiol, Mario Gai, Mario G. Lattanzi, and Deborah Busonero "Fizeau interferometry from space: a challenging frontier in global astrometry", Proc. SPIE 5491, New Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry, (20 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551386

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