An ambitious scientific project promises to revolutionize astronomy from the Observatory of the Rock of the Boyson La Palma, combining the light from several ground-based telescopes to reach a thousand times greater spatial resolution to that of the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.
The Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), together with the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) and other international centers, promote the development of the La Palma Interferometer (LPI). This system will apply the technique of intensity interferometrya pioneering methodology in the visible spectrum that allows individual photons to be correlated and explore the universe with unprecedented precision.
Interferometry, used until now primarily on radio waves, combines signals from multiple telescopes to overcome the limitations of individual instruments. However, the LPI will go a step further by employing state-of-the-art SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) sensors developed in Spain, which offer detection and time synchronization capabilities in the picosecond (one trillionth of a second) range.
Francisco Prada, principal investigator of the project, highlights that this innovation “positions Spain at the “vanguard of quantum astronomy”. Thanks to the LPI, it will be possible to study extreme phenomena, such as black hole accretion disks and ultrafast transient events, with unprecedented angular resolution: the size of a one euro coin seen from 65,000 kilometers.
In its first phase, the LPI will combine light from the National Galileo Telescope (TNG) and the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT). Subsequently, the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and other telescopes of the observatory will be integrated, reaching baselines up to 1.5 kilometersmuch larger than those of the current CHARA visible interferometer in the United States.
In addition, the project has the collaboration of institutions such as the Institute of Microelectronics of Seville (IMSE-CSIC), responsible for the SPAD sensor designand the Autonomous University of Madrid, which develops control electronics.
The installation of this innovative system will not only enhance the astronomical observation capacity, but will also consolidate Spain as global leader in the development of cutting-edge technologies for the exploration of the cosmos.
The LPI will allow us to investigate the universe with a precision and sensitivity never seen before, opening new windows towards still unknown cosmic phenomena. With this project, the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is positioned as epicenter of future astronomyadvancing towards a new horizon in the understanding of the universe.
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