Mark III Stellar Interferometer explained

The Mark III Stellar Interferometer was a long-baseline optical astronomical interferometer, located at the Mount Wilson Observatory, California, United States.^[1] It had a maximum baseline of 32 meters and operated in wavelengths between 450 and 800 nm. A joint venture between the United States Naval Observatory, the Naval Research Laboratory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it began operation in 1987 and was closed in 1992. The Naval Observatory later constructed a larger interferometer, the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer.^[2]

The Mark III interferometer was used to resolve a number of spectroscopic binary systems, including Alpha Andromedae, Phi Cygni, and many others.

Notes and References

1. The Mark III stellar interferometer, M. Shao et al., Astronomy and Astrophysics 193, #1-2 (March 1988), pp. 357–371, .
2. pp. 37–39, Overview of Multiple-Aperture Interferometry Binary Star Results from the Northern Hemisphere, Harold A. McAlister, pp. 35–44 in Binary Stars as Critical Tools and Tests in Contemporary Astrophysics, Proceedings of the 240th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Held in Prague, Czech Republic, August 22–25, 2006, William I. Hartkopf, Edward F. Guinan, and Petr Harmanec, eds., pub. Cambridge University Press, 2006, ; .