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Status and capabilities of the Australian LBA

Status and capabilities of the Australian LBA. Phil Diamond Chief, Astronomy & Space Science. Overview. Overview of the LBA Recent usage Recent developments eVLBI progress ATNF user affiliations Looking ahead. The Long Baseline Array (LBA).

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Status and capabilities of the Australian LBA

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  1. Status and capabilities of the Australian LBA • Phil Diamond • Chief, Astronomy & Space Science

  2. Overview • Overview of the LBA • Recent usage • Recent developments • eVLBI progress • ATNF user affiliations • Looking ahead

  3. The Long Baseline Array (LBA) • Operated as a National Facility by CSIRO, in close cooperation with Uni. of Tasmania & Curtin Uni. • Core elements: ATCA (5x22m), Mopra (22m), Parkes (64m), Ceduna (30m), Hobart (26m) • + Tidbinbilla (70m & 34m), Hart (26m), TIGO (6m), O’Higgins (9m), Warkworth (12m), … + ASKAP • Traditionally 3 x ~1 week sessions per year, evolving toward more frequent, shorter sessions • Observations in the 20, 13, 6, 3, 1cm bands • Max. bit-rate 1Gbps (ATNF), 512Mbps (elsewhere) • Disk-based recorders (with most data later streamed to correlator) or/and eVLBI on a subset of the array • DiFX software correlator (Deller et al.  2007, 2011)

  4. Radio Telescopes in Australia x Katherine x ASKAP x Yarragadee x New Norcia x

  5. The LBA in 2010 • Six sessions • March, May, July, October, November, December • A total of 24 days • 34 observations • 3x22GHz, 16x8.4GHz, 8x6.7GHz, 3x2.3GHz, 4x1.4GHz • 15 projects -- led by 14 different PIs • 7 from Australia and 7 from overseas • ~5% test and development time • The LBA is oversubscribed: about 2/3 of proposals are allocated some observing time • Separate Parkes & Hobart (and new AuScope 3x12m array) participation in IVS

  6. Observing time (in hrs) by year and band

  7. Recent LBA publications • First VLBI Detection of the Radio Remnant of Supernova 1987A: Evidence for Small-scale Features (Ng et al. 2011 ApJL in press, arXiv:1012.5092) • The LBA Calibrator Survey of southern compact extragalactic radio sources - LCS1 (Petrov et al. 2011 PASA in press, arXiv:1012.2607) • Evolution of the Parsec-scale Structure of PKS 1934-638 Revisited: First Science with the ASKAP and New Zealand Telescopes (Tzioumis et al. 2010 AJ 140, 1506) • TANAMI: tracking active galactic nuclei with austral milliarcsecond interferometry . I. First-epoch 8.4 GHz images (Ojha et al. 2010 A&A 519, A45) • LBA observations of the maser cluster OH 330.953-0.182 (Caswell et al. 2010 MNRAS 402, 2649) • Implications of a VLBI Distance to the Double Pulsar J0737-3039A/B(Deller et al. 2009 Science 323, 1327) • Parsec-Scale Shocks in the Kiloparsec-Scale Jet of Centaurus A (Tingay & Lenc 2009 AJ 138, 808)

  8. eVLBI – Gbps links between existing ATNF sites ATCA Mopra To Seattle 10 Gbps Parkes Sydney

  9. eVLBI Current Status • Up to 1Gbps between At-Mp-Pa is available • Correlate on a computer cluster at Narrabri • 128 Mbps to Hobart, and improvement in connection across Bass Strait to 1 Gbps expected in Q1 this year • Successful eVLBI demonstrations with Shanghai, Kashima, JIVE, and HartRAO at 512Mbps • 512Mbps link to Warkworth (NZ) now available • Participation in EXPReS and NEXPReS • 9th eVLBI Workshop held in Perth, Oct 2010 (see http://www.icrar.org/news/pastevents/e-vlbi2010)

  10. ASKAP at the Murchison Radio Observatory 5 Sept/Oct 2010 Jan 2010 Antennas 36 x 12m, three-axis design Max baseline 8 km Frequency 700–1800 MHz FOV 30 deg2 Bandwidth 300 MHz Channels 16k PAF 10x10x2 Tsys ~35 K Six element test array (BETA) in 2011 ASKAP operational in Q2 2013

  11. ASKAP + Ww First fringes at 20cm between LBA and first ASKAP antenna and Warkworth 12m in New Zealand in April/May 2010. Observations made of Cen A and PKS 1934-638. Ww to formally join LBA for observations at 1.4, 2.3 and 8.4 GHz.

  12. MRO MRO Ceduna Hobart Parkes ATCA Tidbinbilla Warkworth The Expanding LBA

  13. User affiliation by time allocated, 2005 - 2009

  14. Future challenges & opportunities • LBA data to be added to ATOA (on-line archive) this year • Hydrogen Maser on order for ASKAP • Addition of 20cm band to Ceduna planned • The LBA DASs will soon need replacing • Opportunities for collaboration with VLBA… • cumvlbaobs.txt file indicates VLBA observes sources with dec < 0 for ~21% of time • Best overlap with MK, OV, KP, PT, LA, FD • …and EAVN and AuScope and space VLBI • New 34m antennas funded for Tidbinbilla • Improved eVLBI access expected • for Hobart, Warkworth, and possibly Tid, but unlikely for Ceduna

  15. More information • Next proposal deadlines • June 15 and Dec 15 • Information about the LBA • www.atnf.csiro.au/vlbi • Sensitivity calculator • www.atnf.csiro.au/vlbi/calculator_2009 • LBA data into on-line archive • atoa.atnf.csiro.au (coming soon)

  16. CSIRO/ATNF Phil Diamond Chief, Astronomy & Space Science, CSIRO Email:Philip.Diamond@csiro.au Web: www.atnf.csiro.au Thank you Contact UsPhone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176Email: Enquiries@csiro.au Web: www.csiro.au

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