Milli-arcsecond astrophysics with VSI, the VLTI spectro-imager in the ELT era

TL;DR

This paper discusses VSI, a proposed spectro-imager for the VLTI, designed to observe compact astronomical sources at milli-arcsecond resolution in the near-infrared, complementing other telescopic observations.

Contribution

Introduction of VSI, a new spectro-imager for VLTI, capable of high-resolution spatial and spectral observations of compact sources in the near-infrared.

Findings

VSI will enable milli-arcsecond imaging of stars and galactic nuclei.

It provides complementary data to ALMA and ELT observations.

The instrument enhances the study of circumstellar environments.

Abstract

Nowadays, compact sources like surfaces of nearby stars, circumstellar environments of stars from early stages to the most evolved ones and surroundings of active galactic nuclei can be investigated at milli-arcsecond scales only with the VLT in its interferometric mode. We propose a spectro-imager, named VSI (VLTI spectro-imager), which is capable to probe these sources both over spatial and spectral scales in the near-infrared domain. This instrument will provide information complementary to what is obtained at the same time with ALMA at different wavelengths and the extreme large telescopes.