I promised a writeup on “Speckle Interferometry”, and here it is! (or part of it at least). I’m midway through the lab, so there’ll likely be another part later, with more examples of actual observations and analysis.
Most everyone has looked at the stars and noticed they “twinkle”, getting slightly brighter and fainter. This is due to the Earth’s atmosphere. When viewed from space, the stars won’t twinkle. If you’ve ever seen a pile of leaves hit by the wind, the leaves take off and swirl around in seemingly random directions. This turbulence caused by the atmosphere is what makes the stars twinkle. This same turbulence can reduce the resolution of astronomical observations by smearing out the light form a star or a galaxy. If you’ve ever looked at an object across a hot patch of asphalt, you’ve experienced this before.. The turbulent air over the road makes the image appear wavy. The same thing happens with observations of the stars.
Speckle interferometry is a way to try and beat the effects of the turbulent atmosphere…
