This is a concept for an interferometer/spectrograph combination which can be used to obtain ``super-Rayleigh'' resolution of Red+Blue binary stars. Such binaries are quite common, and include many SB2 Cepheid systems. Spatially resolving an SB2 Cepheid + A or B star binary amounts to bypassing two rungs of the cosmic distance ladder.
The initial concept for this approach was outlined by Massa and Endal (1987a, b) and spelled out in detail as a small satellite by Traub et al. (1987).
More recently, the concept has been proposed as a balloon project in collaboration with Harms (RJHS Inc), Fixsen (ARC), Polidan (NASA/GSFC) and Hutter (USNO). This is the design that appears above. A simulated image for this configuration can be viewed by clicking here.
Derck Massa,