High Resolution Speckle Methods For Overcoming Image Degradation Caused By The Atmosphere And Telescope Aberrations

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Abstract
We discuss various high resolution speckle methods that can overcome image degradation caused by the atmosphere and telescope aberrations. All methods yield diffraction-limited resolution, for example 0.03" for a 3.6m telescope. We show speckle interferometric observations of asteroids, Pluto/ Charon, double stars, and the gravitational-lens triple quasar. True diffraction-limited images can be reconstructed by speckle interferometry if there is a point, source in the isoplanatic neighborhood of the object (holographic speckle interferometry). Speckle masking is a triple-correlation method that yields diffraction-limited images of general astronomical objects. A point source near the object is not required. We describe an application of speckle masking to the central object in the giant HII region NGC 3603. Speckle spectroscopy is a speckle method that yields diffraction-limited objective prism spectra. It is also possible to apply speckle masking to multiple-mirror interferometers or long-baseline interferometers on the ground or in space. True images of very high angular resolution can be obtained by these techniques. Computer simulations are shown for illustration.

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