Abstract

The Cambridge DIMMWIT was developed for the site of COAST (the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope), a prototype optical interferometer. Unlike other differential image motion monitors, this design is portable in order to carry out seeing campaigns at the site of any optical inteferometer. Of particular interest is the site of a second-generation interferometer proposed by the MRO (Magdalena Ridge Observatory) consortium. The DIMMWIT design has two objectives: to measure the Fried parameter <i>r</i><sub>0</sub> and the speckle lifetime tau<sub>0</sub>, and to be easily transportable. Here, we outline the theory of differential image motion, the design of the DIMMWIT, describe how turbulence parameters can be measured with COAST, and compare measurements of the seeing conditions made simultaneously by the monitor and COAST.

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