The CHARA (Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy) array is an optical interferometer, located on Mount Wilson, California.

This process is called interferometry, and allows the array to have the same resolving power as a telescope with a 330-meter mirror, and an angular resolution of 200 micro-arcseconds.

[1][2] In 1984 CHARA was founded, and with financial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), in 1985 planning for the array began.

With a final gift of $574,000 from David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the funding for the array was completed in October 1998.

This was the first time the diameter of an exoplanet was directly measured, and returned a value slightly different than that obtained from indirect, more conventional methods.

The center also gives access to the array to the astronomical community using the National Optical Astronomy Observatory peer review system for around 50 nights per year.