In our solar system, scattered across one of Earth's verdant mountains, six eggshell-white telescopes gaze into the deep universe. As one cohesive hive, the domed structures collect cosmic light to guide modern astronomers exploring space — and it is thanks to this hive that we now have a brilliant new perspective on the light that guided astronomers of the past: the North Star.
Our visual knowledge of the current North Star (because of Earth's axial wobble, the title passes to different stars over the eons) runs deep. Artists, old and new, have depicted Polaris shining in their paintings, astrophotographers have imaged it from their backyards and scientists have pointed their instruments at it for decades. But what's special about these new Polaris views, courtesy of the CHARA Array on Mount Wilson in California, has to do with resolution. The special thing about CHARA is, as touched on, its telescopes work in tandem with one another. Their light data is combined in a central facility to provide one whole, clear picture of a source. It's as though the sextet of worker telescopes forms one ultimate telescope with a diameter of 330 meters (1,083 feet). And because of this, the project's image resolution — specifically, angular resolution — is excellent.
