A. I. Sargent (Caltech)
At radio wavelengths, aperture synthesis techniques have long been used to attain high resolution astronomical observations. The scientific results from the first small, university-based instruments were sufficiently exciting to warrant the construction of the Very Large Array, now one of the world's most successful and productive astronomical facilities. This kind of progression is now being echoed at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths; the successes of relatively small millimeter-wave interferometers in studying the cold interstellar medium and the origins of planets, stars, and galaxies, are driving the construction of CARMA, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (a combination of existing university-based arrays), and ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, a much more ambitious facility that will operate down to sub-millimeter wavelengths. At shorter wavelengths still, the pioneering infrared/optical interferometers have begun to provide tantalizing results. Scientific highlights from existing millimeter and infrared interferometers will be presented and the potential of the anticipated new arrays will be discussed.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.