POSTER PAPER 10.05
Imaging the Surfaces and Interiors of Other Stars: The Stellar Imager (SI) Mission Concept
Kenneth G. Carpenter and Richard G. Lyon, Carolus J. Schrijver, Lee J. Mundy, Ronald J. Allen and Jay Rajagopal
Institute: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Institute: Lockheed-Martin Advanced Technologies Center
Institute: University of Maryland
Institute: Space Telescope Science Institute
Contact Email: kgc@stargate.gsfc.nasa.gov
Abstract:
The Stellar Imager (SI) is envisioned as a large
(0.5 km diameter) space-based, UV-optical interferometer. It is
designed to image surface features and, through asteroseismology,
sub-surface structures of other stars and measure their spatial
and temporal variations. These observations are needed to improve
our understanding of the underlying dynamo process(es) and enable
improved forecasting of solar/stellar activity and its impact on
planetary climates and life. Schrijver and Carpenter (this
volume) discuss the science goals of the mission in detail, while
in this paper we discuss the performance requirements implied by
the science goals and how these translate into specific design
requirements on the mission architecture, and we present some
preliminary visions for how the required observations (e.g., 1000
pixel, 100 micro-arcsec resolution, UV-optical images of the
surface of nearby dwarf stars) for this ambitious project might be
obtained.
Index Keywords: Stellar Imager; Interferometers; Stellar Activity; Magnetic Activity; Future Space Missions
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Manuscript submitted: 2001-Aug-31
"The Future of Cool-Star Astrophysics", 2003, Eds. A. Brown,
G. M. Harper, & T. R. Ayres.
Proceedings of 12th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems,
& The Sun,
© 2003 University of Colorado.