Betelgeuse scope: Single-mode-fibers-assisted optical interferometer design for dedicated stellar activity monitoring

Narsireddy Anugu, Katie M. Morzinski, Josh Eisner, Ewan Douglas, Dan Marrone, Steve Ertel, Sebastiaan Haffert, Oscar Montoya, Jordan Stone, Stefan Kraus, John Monnier, Jean Baptiste Lebouquin, Jean Philippe Berger, Julien Woillez, Miguel Montargès

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Betelgeuse has experienced a sudden shift in its brightness and dimmed mysteriously. This is likely caused by a hot blob of plasma ejected from Betelgeuse and then cooled to obscuring dust. If true, it is a remarkable opportunity to directly witness the formation of dust around a red supergiant star. Today's optical telescope facilities are not optimized for monitoring the Betelgeuse surface, so in this work, we propose a low-cost optical interferometer. The facility will consist of 12 x 4 inch optical telescopes mounted to the surface of a large radio dish for model-independent aperture synthesis imaging; polarization-maintaining single-mode fibers will carry the coherent beams from the individual optical telescopes to an all-in-one beam combiner. A fast steering mirror assisted fiber injection system guides the flux into fibers. A metrology system senses vibration-induced piston errors in optical fibers, and these errors are corrected using fast-steering delay lines. We will present the design.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationInterferometry XX
EditorsMichael B. North Morris, Katherine Creath, Rosario Porras-Aguilar
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9781510637863
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020
EventInterferometry XX 2020 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: Aug 24 2020Sep 4 2020

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume11490
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferenceInterferometry XX 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period8/24/209/4/20

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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