The NOI does extremely high-resolution astronomy, including precise measurements of stellar positions.

Telescope: Navy Optical Interferometer (NOI)
Location: Anderson Mesa
Acquired: 1992

History

The NOI (Navy Optical Interferometer) is the result of a collaborative effort between the U.S. Naval Observatory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and Lowell Observatory. NOI is a specialized astronomical telescope capable of producing extremely detailed stellar images. Instead of a single telescope, an array of telescopes spanning one-third of a mile collects and precisely directs beams of light from a star to a complex set of beam-combining optics, creating a high-resolution image equivalent to the combined spread of the telescope array.

Instruments & Uses

NOI currently can combine arrays of 3 and 4 telescopes to produce milliarcsecond-scale images of nearby stellar surfaces, and map orbits of more distant binary stars. A new visitor instrument, VISION, is slated to arrive for initial testing from Tennessee State University in December 2011, and will be able to join 6 telescopes simultaneously. The NOI also will be expanded in the coming years with the addition of new imaging stations (called siderostats) to the array and facility upgrades. The USNO also recently accepted a gift of four 1.8m telescopes, intended for inclusion in the array as a major upgrade.