22nd of March 2015 |
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Observing at the Australia Telescope Compact Array |
by Bärbel Koribalski (CASS) |
Five antennas of CSIRO's Australia Telescope
Compact Array (ATCA) can be moved to different stations along the east-west
track (seen in this picture) and, occasionally, the short northern spur. CA06
stays fixed and provides the longest (up to 6 km) ATCA baselines. Together, all
six 22-m antennas form a powerful radio interferometer with receivers from 1
to 105 GHz. It is the combination of all baselines - N antennas give N*(N-1)/2
baselines - that matters in imaging, eg extended hydrogen emission from
galaxies or compact radio continuum sources. The resident kangaroos are just one of the many reasons to visit the site. The ATCA is located just outside the town of Narrabri in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. |