Final Activity Report Summary - INTERFEROMETRY (Interferometric Observations of Planetary Systems)
In our technological instrument development project part, we have developed a prototype for a vibration control instrument, which can be used, e.g. at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile. This new device, based on integrated optics and fibers, can measure the vibrations of the mirrors behind any of the 8-meter Unit Telescopes and can then also compensate for the vibrations of the mirrors. After correction of those vibrations, the capabilities of the interferometer instruments at VLTI will be much better, so that fainter companions like low-mass planets can be detected by interferometry. This work was also led by one of our fellows (see Minardi et al. 2009 AN 330, 518 and Minardi et al. 2010 APIE 7734, 117).
We have then also worked with data from AMBER, the VLTI instrument for the near infrared, and have obtained very precise stellar parameters of the bright binary star delta Vel, so that theoretical tracks and isochrones can be tested, also work led by one of our fellows (Pribulla et al. 2011 A&A in press). Furthermore, we have observed a number of additional transits of known transiting planets in order to improve the orbital elements and to search for transit timing variations, published by our fellows, e.g. Vanko et al. 2009 IAU Symp 253, p 440). At the end of the project, we have also held an international workshop http://www.astro.uni-jena.de/yeti/workshop/talks.html. Publications lists and some of the papers were submitted as attachments to yearly reports and are available from ADS.