Is it possible for amateurs to do optical interferometry?
I’m a keen amateur astronomer and member of a local club. I know basically what Optical Interferometry is (combining the signal of two or more telescopes to synthesize a larger scope) but can’t find any technical details on how it is achieved. Is it all about software to synchronize two mounts and again to combine the images so they perfectly match? Is it possible for an amateur or two to get an optical interferometer up and running if they had computer knowledge (and enough savings!)? Interferometry is MUCH more complicated than you think. You need a precise path length difference between the two interfering waves so that a good interference pattern is achieved. In Keck, there are a whole set of mirrors below the two observatories, and the mirrors can be adjusted to get the exact phase lag. It requires hardware and not mere computing power to do interferometry. Further, as the object moves in the sky due to Earth’s rotation, the fringe pattern will change due to the change in the phas
