The Australia Telescope Compact Array consists of six 22-m diameter
dishes, five of which can be moved along a 3-km long east-west rail
track, with a 214-m north-south spur. On Monday November 16, ATCA was
reconfigured for the 500th time, from 6B (one of the more extended
arrays) to H168 (one of the more compact, with two antennas on the
north-south spur). This works out to be a reconfigure approximately
every 23 days, on average. For the milestone we had antenna rides, and
special morning tea and lunch, with a cake to enjoy. Plenty of video
footage was shot, with a plan to make a new video for the visitors
centre, describing the reconfiguration process.
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