Michelson stellar interferometer (source code)

= Michelson stellar interferometer
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The <Michelson stellar interferometer>, associated with <Albert Abraham Michelson>, uses separated collectors and beam-redirection optics to produce <interference fringes>. The collector spacing determines sensitivity to a stellar <angular diameter>, independently of the final beam spacing at the combiner. The first null for a uniform disk is $D=1.21967\lambda/\alpha$, where $\alpha$ is the full angular diameter. Different surface-brightness laws, including <limb darkening>, change the null.