Infrared Interferometry with the VLTI

Abstract

The VLT Interferometer, currently under construction on Paranal by the European Southern Observatory, will be the major ground-based interferometer open to the European community at the beginning of the next century. The baseline plan for the VLTI (see the reports by the ESO VLT Interferometer Panel, 1989 and 1992) includes combination of the four 8 m telescopes and a number of 2 m class auxiliary telescopes providing better coverage of the uv plane, and baselines of up to 200 m. The VLTI will operate at wavelengths ranging from about 0.45 µm to 20 µm. The scientific objectives of the VLTI have recently been summarized by Paresce et al. (1996) and by Paresce (these proceedings). It is expected that the VLTI will have a large impact on many fields of stellar research, including star formation and stellar evolution, stellar surface structure, low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, circumstellar matter, and mass loss from pre-main-sequence objects and from evolved stars. In extragalactic astronomy, the unprecedented combination of sensitivity and angular resolution will open new vistas for studies of the Galactic Center, of Seyfert nuclei, quasars, and high-redshift objects.