Georgia State's CHARA Array - The World's Highest Resolution Infrared Telescope

Astronomers from Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) have designed and built a six-element optical/infrared telescope array on Mt. Wilson in southern California. With its longest baselines of 330 meters, the CHARA Array is capable of sub-milliarcsecond resolution of a variety of astronomical objects. This presentation will include a technical overview of the Array and examples of the science accomplished since the facility became routinely operational in 2005. These results include the detection and imaging of rotationally induced oblateness in rapidly rotating stars, measuring the angular pulsation of Cepheid variable stars, and obtaining the first direct measurement of the diameter of an exoplanet.

Dr. Harold A. McAlister, Georgia State University
Regents' Professor of Astronomy
Director, Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy