COAST. the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope, is a multi-element optical interferometer with baselines of up to 100 metres, designed to observe stars with angular resolution as high as one thousandth of one arcsecond (much higher resolution than can be obtained with individual telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope). The principal limitation is that COAST can only image bright stars. COAST obtained the first high-resolution images of the surfaces of stars other than our sun.

The COAST array is operated by the Cavendish Astrophysics Group, and is situated at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory.

External links

• COAST
• The first high-resolution optical images of the surfaces of distant stars