The Navy Precision Optical Interferometer: two years of development towards large-aperture observations

We have been pursuing a comprehensive program of improving high-resolution imaging at the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI) hosted at Lowell Observatory’s Anderson Mesa site, for the purpose of spatially resolved observations of faint objects at scales down to less than 1 milliarcsecond. This activity at NPOI is being implemented with two primary phases. First, the ‘PALANTIR’ upgrade of NPOI is augmenting the existing telescope array with three 1-meter PlaneWave PW1000 telescopes. These telescopes are housed in mobile domes for rapid relocation around the array, and are being augmented with adaptive optics. Second, we are implementing a ‘NPOI Plus-Up’ plan which is modernizing the array infrastructure and streamlining its operations. All of these activities are being carried out as our current operations are continuing.