|
A five-day Long Baseline Array observing session has just concluded.
This block included observations in the 20cm, 13cm and 4cm bands,
for proposals entitled
"VLBI of M dwarfs in the age of GRAVITY: combining optical and radio astrometry to understand stellar environments",
"The neutral hydrogen outflow in UGC 6081",
"Resolving the radio morphologies of candidate UHzRGs",
"Physics of Gamma Ray Emitting AGN",
"Monitoring VLBI observations of FRB 20190520B and its Persistent Radio Source", and
"Pinpointing an ultra-long period magnetar".
The Long Baseline Array uses the technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry,
with widely separated telescopes all observing the same celestial sources at the same,
and recording their data to computer disk for later combining in the correlation process.
With up to 10 telescopes across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa having
to be coordinated, it is not unusual for one to encounter equipment or weather
issues. This session it was the Warkworth telescope in New Zealand that had
to cope with the approach of Cyclone Gabrielle during the session.
Warkworth stowed as the winds strengthened, with site environmental
monitoring subsequently recording gusts of 100 km/h!
The cyclone caused havoc across the North Island of New Zealand,
with high winds and rainfall in areas that had suffered from
torrential rains only a couple of weeks ago.
|
