Time Assignment information
Australia Telescope Compact Array millimetre upgrade
Good progress continues to be made towards the high-frequency upgrade of the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The full upgrade will add two new observing bands to the Compact Array: 12-mm (16 to 25 GHz) and 3-mm (85 to approximately 115 GHz). Three of the antennas are now equipped with millimetre receivers. These are operational in the 12-mm band, and in the 3-mm band over frequencies from 84.9 to 87.3 and 88.5 to 91.3 GHz. We expect that full scheduled millimetre observing will commence in 2003. Until then a limited amount of time will be made available for commissioning and test observations. Proposals for millimetre observations will be considered by the Time Assignment Committee. As the millimetre systems are being developed, we require that until further notice, all millimetre proposals include an ATNF staff collaborator. Up-to-date information on the system performance, and information on how to prepare for and undertake millimetre observations is available on the web at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/twong/3mmguide/ .
Because of distortions to the wavefronts caused by variations in the earth's atmosphere, millimetre observations are best taken when the atmosphere is most stable. In general the best phase stability at the Compact Array occurs during the Australian winter months and during night times. It is strongly recommended that observers request observations during these times.
Long Baseline Array
The Australian Long Baseline Array consists of the Compact Array, the Parkes 64-m radio telescope and the Mopra 22-m telescope. This array can be used as part of an extended Australian network which includes the NASA antennas at Tidbinbilla and radio telescopes at Hobart, and Ceduna. The LBA is also used as part of the Asia-Pacific Telescope which links telescopes in Australia, Japan, China, Hawaii, South Africa and India, and for the VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP).
We advise VLBI users that access to the Tidbinbilla 70-m antenna has been very restricted this year and this is likely to continue in 2002. Further information on access to the Tidbinbilla facilities can be obtained from John Reynolds (John.Reynolds@csiro.au).
The ATNF web pages for the Long Baseline Array are currently being updated by Roopesh Ojha. Two documents on "A Novice's Guide to using the LBA" and a "Note on Calibrators" have been added to http://www.atnf.csiro.au/vlbi/ Comments and suggestions on the LBA web pages are welcome and can be sent to Roopesh.Ojha@csiro.au.
Jessica Chapman
(Jessica.Chapman@csiro.au)