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[67.01] Observations of Nearby Stars with the CHARA Array

H.A. McAlister (CHARA, Georgia State University)

Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy operates an optical/IR interferometric array on Mt. Wilson, California, consisting of six 1-m aperture telescopes arranged in a Y-shaped configuration yielding 15 baselines ranging from 30 to 331 meters in length. In the K-band infrared, this corresponds to a maximum resolution at the first null of visibility of approximately 1 milliarcsecond, the highest resolution obtainable at this wavelength by any interferometer. The CHARA Array presently has the sensitivity and resolution sufficient to measure the diameters of some 60 stars within 10 pc of the sun with spectral types as late as M3.5V. A number of spectroscopic binaries are also accessible. This talk will review the present status of these measurements. Research on fundamental stellar properties at the CHARA Array is supported by NSF Grant AST-0307562.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.