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An ‘X-Banded’ Tidbinbilla Interferometer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

Michael J. Batty
Affiliation:
Division of Radiophysics, CSIRO, Sydney 2 School of Electrical Engineering, University of Sydney
R. G. Gardyne
Affiliation:
Division of Radiophysics, CSIRO, Sydney
G.J. Gay
Affiliation:
Division of Radiophysics, CSIRO, Sydney
S. Gulkis
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
David L. Jauncey
Affiliation:
Division of Radiophysics, CSIRO, Sydney
A. Kirk
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
W. L. Peters
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Canberra

Abstract

The recent upgrading of the Tidbinbilla two-element interferometer to simultaneous S-band (2.3 GHz) and X-band (8.4 GHz) operation has provided a powerful new astronomical facility for weak radio source measurement in the Southern Hemisphere. The new X-band system has a minimum fringe spacing of 38 arcsec, and about the same positional measurement capability (approximately 2 arcsec) and sensitivity (1 s rms noise of 10 mJy) as the previous S-band system. However, the far lower confusion limit will allow detection and accurate positional measurements for sources as weak as a few millijanskys. This capability will be invaluable for observations of radio stars, X-ray sources and other weak, compact radio sources.

Type
Contributions
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1986

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References

Batty, M. J., Jauncey, D. L., Rayner, P. T. and Gulkis, S., 1982, Astron. J., 87, 938.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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