The power of optical/IR interferometry: recent scientific results and 2nd generation VLTI instrumentation

A suite of powerful long baseline interferometers has come into operation recently, along with sophisticated instrumentation that is providing new levels of accuracy, spectral resolution and access to various spectral bands from the optical to the thermal infrared. Investigations are now enabled on a wealth of astrophysical sources with unprecedented levels of angular resolution and sensitivity, producing a considerable body of new, exciting scientific results.

The ESO VLTI stands among the most powerful of such facilities. In celebrating the completion of the first phase of the VLTI development, this workshop will review and discuss new results of the VLTI and of other stellar interferometers, and will assess their impact on astronomy as a whole. This impact is likely to be significant and to drive future activities intended to upgrade existing devices and even to design completely new interferometric facilities on the ground and in space.

The workshop also doubles as the starting point to launch the second generation programme for VLTI instrumentation.