OHANAOptical Hawaiian Array for Nanoradian AstronomyA concept proposed in 1996 by Jean-Marie Mariotti† ( Astron.Astrophys.Suppl.Ser. 116, 381,1996)Joint discussion in Hawaii, March 16-17, 2000

• Two technological breakthroughs

  • (a) adaptive optics on large telescopes with Strehl > 0.5 at K
  • (b) coherent transport with single-mode optical fibers

• Astronomical validation : the IOTA/FLUOR system (Coude du Foresto & Perrin)

  • unprecedented visibility accuracies : 0.3 %

• Mauna Kea large telescopes configuration : a unique interferometric capability
  • Keck and VLTI : 8-10 m, ca. 100 m baselines, 1-2 um
  • TPF - Darwin/IRSI : 1 m, 50 to 1000 m, 10 um (ca. 2015)
  • Mauna Kea : 3.6 to 10 m, 100 to 800 m, 1-2 um, hence resolution 0.25 mas

• A difficult and important problem : the central core of AGNs
  • resolution : 0.1 pc @ 100 Mpc = 0.2 mas
  • magnitude : mK > 12 - 13

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