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The Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) was an optical long baseline
interferometer 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 o ...
owned by The
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...
. It was located in the Paul Wild Observatory, 20 km west of Narrabri town in
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
, Australia. The
interferometer 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 o ...
had several siderostats, which collected and reflected starlight into the optical laboratory for interferometry via two vacuum pipes. Although mirrors at the siderostats were 20 cm in diameter, the effective aperture size was 14 cm as they operated at angles of about 45°. By selecting the different siderostats at different distances, the baseline of the interferometer could be varied between 5m and 640m. With beam-combining instruments that operated at visible wavelengths (~550-850 nm), SUSI had an
angular resolution Angular resolution describes the ability of any image-forming device such as an Optical telescope, optical or radio telescope, a microscope, a camera, or an Human eye, eye, to distinguish small details of an object, thereby making it a major det ...
of up to ~0.7mas (
milliarcseconds A minute of arc, arcminute (arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of one degree. Since one degree is of a turn (or complete rotation), one minute of arc is of a turn. The na ...
). {{observatory-stub Interferometers Optical telescopes