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At a given observing frequency, the angular resolution of a telescope
(i.e., the fineness of detail that can be seen) depends on the size
of the telescope. So, in its 6km array configuration, the ATCA has
an angular resolution almost 100 time better than the Parkes 64m Dish.
The technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry -- combining the
signals from widely separated telescopes -- can provide a further
improvement by a factor of 1000 or more. In the Southern Hemisphere,
VLBI observations are undertaken with an array of telescopes including
CSIRO's Parkes, ATCA, Mopra telescopes, the University of Tasmania's
Hobart and Ceduna dishes, AuScope antennas at Katherine and Yarragadee,
the Auckland University of Technology's telescopes at Warkworth,
the Hartebeesthoek antenna in South Africa, and antennas from the
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex.
Last weekend the Long Baseline Array conducted observations at 2.3 GHz,
and this weekend observations will be carried out at 8.4 GHz.
The image above was taken last weekend, and shows sunset at the
Ceduna site. (Image credit: Lucas Hyland)
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