Observational model for the Space Interferometry Mission

Mark H. Milman; Slava G. Turyshev

doi:10.1117/12.390284

5 July 2000 Observational model for the Space Interferometry Mission

Mark H. Milman, Slava G. Turyshev

Proceedings Volume 4006, Interferometry in Optical Astronomy; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390284
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2000, Munich, Germany

Abstract

The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) is a space-based long-baseline optical interferometer for precision astrometry. One of the primary objectives of the SIM instrument is to accurately determine the directions to a grid of stars, together with their proper motions and parallax, improving a priori knowledge by nearly three orders of magnitude. The basic astrometric observable of the instrument is the pathlength delay, a measurement made by a combination of internal metrology measurements that determine the distance the starlight travels through the two arms of the interferometer and a measurement of the white light stellar fringe to find the point of equal pathlength. Because this operation requires a non-negligible integration time to accurately measure the stellar fringe position, the interferometer baseline vector is not stationary over this time period, as its absolute length and orientation are time-varying. This conflicts with the consistency condition necessary for extracting the astrometric parameters which requires a stationary baseline vector. This paper addresses how the time-varying baseline is `regularized' so that it may act as a single baseline vector for multiple stars.

Citation Download Citation

Mark H. Milman and Slava G. Turyshev "Observational model for the Space Interferometry Mission", Proc. SPIE 4006, Interferometry in Optical Astronomy, (5 July 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390284

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