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AMBER, the Astronomical Multi-Beam Recombiner, is an instrument mounted on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), combining the light of the three Unit Telescopes in the near-infrared of the VLT-Interferometer (VLTI). It is at the source of a considerable number of publications in the field of optical long-baseline interferometry.
It combines three out of the four telescopes of the VLTI, through a
AMBER, the Astronomical Multi-Beam Recombiner, is an instrument mounted on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), combining the light of the three Unit Telescopes in the near-infrared of the VLT-Interferometer (VLTI). It is at the source of a considerable number of publications in the field of optical long-baseline interferometry.
It combines three out of the four telescopes of the VLTI, through a spectrograph
An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...
, making it a unique instrument, combining spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...
and interferometry
Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber opt ...
. These properties, and the fact that AMBER is an open-community instrument, made it a successful instrument. It can be compared to its fellow in the mid-infrared, the MIDI instrument in terms of the number of publications.
Highlights from the AMBER instrument include the first detection of a Keplerian-rotating disk around a Be star, the discovery of disks around evolved stars, the characterization of the disks of young stars, the observations of novae, the sharpest images of evolved stars and the characterization of the central dusty torus of active galactic nuclei. As of the end of 2017, 150 refereed papers had been published using AMBER data.
See also
*Astronomical interferometer
An astronomical interferometer or telescope array is a set of separate telescopes, mirror segments, or radio telescope antenna (radio), antennas that work together as a single telescope to provide higher resolution images of astronomical objects ...
* CHARA array
* GRAVITY – Very Large Telescope#Instruments
* Infrared Spatial Interferometer
The Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) is an astronomical interferometer array of three telescopes operating in the mid-infrared. The telescopes are fully mobile and their current site on Mount Wilson allows for placements as far as apar ...
* MATISSE – Multi Aperture Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Experiment
The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2 m across ...
* NPOI – Navy Precision Optical Interferometer
References
Telescope instruments {{European Southern Observatory