Dr. Catherine A. Clark Profile

Dr. Catherine A. Clark

at Lowell Observatory

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Author

Publications (3)

Proceedings Article | 23 August 2024 Presentation + Paper

MoonLITE: a CLPS-delivered NASA Astrophysics Pioneers lunar optical interferometer for sensitive, milliarcsecond observing

Gerard van Belle, David Ciardi, Daniel Hillsberry, Anders Jorgensen, John Monnier, Krista Lynne Smith, Tabetha Boyajian, Kenneth Carpenter, Catherine Clark, Gioia Rau, Gail Schaefer

Proceedings Volume 13092, 130922N (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020371

KEYWORDS: Long baseline optical interferometry, Astronomical interferometry, Michelson interferometers, Exoplanetary science, Telescopes, Equipment, Stars, Optical interferometry, Astronomical interferometers, Spatial resolution, Astrophysics

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MoonLITE (Lunar InTerferometry Explorer) is an Astrophysics Pioneers proposal to develop, build, fly, and operate the first separated-aperture optical interferometer in space, delivering sub-milliarcsecond science results. MoonLITE will leverage the Pioneers opportunity for utilizing NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) to deliver an optical interferometer to the lunar surface, enabling unprecedented discovery power by combining high spatial resolution from optical interferometry with deep sensitivity from the stability of the lunar surface. Following landing, the CLPS-provided rover will deploy the pre-loaded MoonLITE outboard optical telescope 100 meters from the lander’s inboard telescope, establishing a two-element interferometric observatory with a single deployment. MoonLITE will observe targets as faint as 17th magnitude in the visible, exceeding ground-based interferometric sensitivity by many magnitudes, and surpassing space-based optical systems resolution by a factor of 50×. The capabilities of MoonLITE open a unique discovery space that includes direct size measurements of the smallest, coolest stars and substellar brown dwarfs; searches for close-in stellar companions orbiting exoplanet-hosting stars that could confound our understanding and characterization of the frequency of Earth-like planets; direct size measurements of young stellar objects and characterization of the terrestrial planet-forming regions of these young stars; measurements of the inner regions and binary fraction of active galactic nuclei; and a probe of the very nature of spacetime foam itself. A portion of the observing time will also be made available to the broader community via a guest observer program. MoonLITE takes advantage of the CLPS opportunity to place an interferometer in space on a stable platform – the lunar surface – and delivers an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and angular resolution at the remarkably affordable cost point of Pioneers.

Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Poster + Presentation + Paper

The optomechanical design of the Quad-camera Wavefront-sensing Six-channel Speckle Interferometer (QWSSI)

Catherine Clark, Gerard van Belle, Elliott Horch, David Trilling, Zachary Hartman, Michael Collins, Kaspar von Braun, Jeff Gehring

Proceedings Volume 11446, 114462A (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2563055

KEYWORDS: Speckle, Interferometers, Optomechanical design, Speckle imaging, Electron multiplying charge coupled devices, Wavefronts, Telescopes, Photons, Sensors, Visible radiation

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Proceedings Article | 9 July 2018 Paper

Two-color speckle imaging of M-dwarfs with the Discovery Channel telescope

Frederick Hahne, Elliott Horch, Gerard van Belle, Catherine Clark, Jennifer Winters, Todd Henry

Proceedings Volume 10701, 107012A (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314024

KEYWORDS: Stars, Speckle imaging, Telescopes, Speckle, Space telescopes, Exoplanets, James Webb Space Telescope, Planets

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