Study of the scientific potential of a three 40 cm Telescopes Interferometer at Dome C

• Main Authors: Valat, B., Schmider, F. X., Lopez, B., Petrov, R., Vannier, M., Millour, F., Vakili, F.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2006
• Subjects: Astrophysics astro-ph; FOS Physical sciences; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0606378; https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0606378

Recent site testing (see: http://www-luan.unice.fr/Concordiastro/indexantartic.html) has shown that Dome C in Antarctica might have a high potential for stellar interferometry if some solutions related to the surface atmospheric layer are found. A demonstrator interferometer could be envisioned in order to fully qualify the site and prepare the future development of a large array. We analyse the performances of a prototype interferometer for Dome C made with 3 telescopes of 40 cm diameter. It assumes classical Michelson recombination. The most recent atmospheric and environmental conditions measured at Dome C are considered (see K. Agabi "First whole atmosphere night-time seeing measurements at Dome C, Antarctica"). We also study the possible science reachable with such a demonstrator. Especially we evaluate that even such small aperture interferometer could allow the detection and low resolution spectroscopy of the most favourable pegaside planets. : 6 pages, 5 figures, conferences SPIE, 0rlando, 2006