Navy Optical Interferometer

Navy Optical Interferometer

The Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI) is a major astronomical interferometer (world's largest baselines), operated by the Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS) in collaboration with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Lowell Observatory. The NPOI primarily produces space imagery and astrometry, the latter a major component required for the safe position, navigation, and orienting of the world's orbiting satellites through upwards of 19,000+ pieces of orbiting space debris. The facility is located at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station on Anderson Mesa about 25 kilometers (16 mi) southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona (USA). Until November 2011, the facility was known as the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI). Subsequently the instrument was temporarily renamed the Navy Optical Interferometer, and now permanently, the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI) -- reflecting the operational maturity of the facility.

The NPOI project was initiated by the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) in 1987. Lowell joined the project the following year when the USNO decided to build the NPOI at Anderson Mesa. The first phase of construction was completed in 1994, which allowed the interferometer to see its first fringes, or light combined from multiple sources, that year. The Navy began regular science operations in 1997. The NPOI has been continuously upgraded and expanded since then, and has been operational for a decade. The workings of NPOI as a classic interferometer, are described at Scholarpedia, and at the NPOI site.