'OHANA

摘要

The Mauna Kea Observatory offers a unique opportunity to build a large and sensitive interferometer. Seven telescopes have diameters larger than 3 meters and are or may be equipped with adaptive optics systems to correct phase perturbations induced by atmospheric turbulence. The maximum telescope separation of 800 meters can provide an angular resolution as good as 0.25 milli-arcseconds in the J band. The large pupils and long baselines make 'OHANA very complementary to existing large optical interferometers. From an astrophysical point of view, it opens the way to imaging of the central part of faint and compact objects such as active galactic nuclei and young stellar objects. On a technical point of view, it opens the way to kilometric or more arrays by propagating light in single-mode fibers. First instruments have been built and tested successfully at CFHT, Keck Ⅰ and Gemini to inject light into single-mode fibers thus partly completing Phase Ⅰ of the project. Phase Ⅱ is now on-going with the prospects of the first combinations of Keck Ⅰ - Keck Ⅱ in 2004 and Gemini - CFHT in 2005.