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OWL-Moon: Very high resolution spectropolarimetric interferometry and imaging from the Moon: exoplanets to cosmology

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Abstract

We outline a concept for OWL-Moon, a 50-100 m aperture telescope located on the surface of the Moon, to address three major areas in astronomy, namely the detection of biosignatures on habitable exoplanets, the geophysics of exoplanets, and cosmology. Such a large lunar telescope, when coupled with large Earth-based telescopes, would allow Intensity Interferometric measurements, leading to pico-arcsecond angular resolution. This would have applications in many areas of astronomy and is timely in light of the renewed interest of space agencies in returning to the Moon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France

    Jean Schneider

  2. IAP (France)/John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Joseph Silk

  3. Observatoire de La Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

    Farrokh Vakili

Authors
  1. Jean Schneider
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  2. Joseph Silk
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  3. Farrokh Vakili
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Correspondence to Jean Schneider.

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Schneider, J., Silk, J. & Vakili, F. OWL-Moon: Very high resolution spectropolarimetric interferometry and imaging from the Moon: exoplanets to cosmology. Exp Astron 54, 1351–1357 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-022-09868-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-022-09868-3

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