The Naval Research
Laboratory (NRL) has teamed with a consortium
of universities
to plan and design an optical interferometer
in the Magdalena
Mountains in central New Mexico. Through a cooperative
agreement signed in September, 2001, with New Mexico Institute
of Mining and Technology, the financial arm for the observatory,
NRL was designated as the government lead for the project.
The Magdalena
Ridge Observatory
(MRO), a joint endeavor between the
university consortium and
the Department of Defense, will
enable scientists and engineers
to determine how to increase
sensitivity for ground-based interferometers.
Of special
interest is the opportunity to explore how adaptive
optics
might combine with medium-sized apertures for a given
array
configuration.
Dr. G. Charmaine Gilbreath, the
NRL/MRO Science Officer who is
with the Laboratory's Remote
Sensing Division, says that NRL
will play an important
technical advisory role, contributing
unique expertise gained
from the Laboratory's success in designing,
building and
conducting research with the Navy Prototype Optical
Interferometer (NPOI) in Flagstaff, Arizona. NPOI is a
high-precision,
long-baseline optical interferometer that
provides highly accurate
measurements of star
positions.
The MRO,
says Dr. Gilbreath,
can potentially be a next-generation
optical interferometer.
Researchers at MRO will further
develop the interferometry techniques
used at NPOI, using
larger telescopes and new technologies.
Adaptive optics, in
particular, which can compensate for optical
effects of the
atmosphere, could enable the use of medium-sized
telescopes,
thereby significantly increasing the sensitivity
of such
instruments.
Candidate configurations for
the observatory are
being considered now. One possible configuration
may be three
2.4-meter telescopes two fixed and one moveable
on
a 250-meter baseline, which can be used either singly
or be
linked together using interferometry techniques. Interferometry
allows multiple telescope signals to combine and obtain higher
resolution than an individual signal. When linked by optical
interferometry, the three MRO telescopes would have the potential
resolving power of a single 250-meter telescope. The technical
advances achieved at MRO will, in turn, help NRL researchers
further the continued development of NPOI, which has a planned
baseline of 437 meters.
Scientists would use the more
sensitive instrument
to survey galaxies and image their cores,
study planets, search
for extrasolar planets and study atmospheric
turbulence. The
telescopes, when decoupled, would track non-celestial
objects
such as satellites and make images of geostationary
satellites
The
design, construction, and
operation of the MRO will be under
the auspices of a university
research consortium whose members
include New Mexico Institute
of Mining and Technology, New
Mexico State University, New Mexico
Highlands University, the
University of Puerto Rico, and Los
Alamos National Laboratory.
NRL plans to have an on-site duty
station in New Mexico, which
will enhance research opportunities
for university students and
create avenues for further collaboration
between the
participating universities and the Laboratory.
Construction will begin in 2002,
with a completion date in 2006. The MRO is funded by the Office
of Naval Research.
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The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory provides the advanced scientific capabilities required to bolster our country's position of global naval leadership. The Laboratory, with a total complement of approximately 2,500 personnel, is located in southwest Washington, D.C., with other major sites at the Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Monterey, Calif. NRL has served the Navy and the nation for over 90 years and continues to advance research further than you can imagine. For more information, visit the NRL website or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.