It seems to be a natural consequence of our points of view to assume that the whole of space is filled with electrons and flying electric ions of all kinds. — Kristian Birkeland, 1913.
The Long Wavelength Array (LWA) is a radio telescope under construction in central New Mexico USA. It is one of only a few observatories to work with such low frequencies
When complete, it will consist of 53 stations, with a total of 13,000 dipole antennas strategically placed in an area nearly 400 kms in diameter, to scan the sky at HF and VHF frequencies. Each antenna stands about 1.5 m high and about 2.7 m across the base. The first station, with 256 antennas, is scheduled to start surveying the sky in summer 2011.
Long Wavelength Array
Location
adjacent to the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
Coordinates
34°04′N107°38′W
Wavelength
3.4–30 m (10–88 MHz)
Built
2009–
First light
7 April 2011
Telescope style
phased array of 50 stations, each with 256 dipole antennas
MeerKAT is the Southern Hemisphere's most powerful radio telescope. It will form 25% of the SKA Phase 1 dish array in South Africa.KAT-7 is the current configuration of seven receivers.
ASKAP is situated in a radio qiuet zone (RQZ) at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), approximately 315km northeast
of Geraldton in Western Australia.
ASKAP consists of:
Thirty-six 12m antennas
with a max. baseline of about 6 km.,
working as a single instrument
to scan the skies for radio waves at a frequency range from 700 MHz to 1.8 GHz
with 36 independent beams, "each of about 1 square degree, yield overlapping to a 30 square degree field-of-view at 1.4 GHz".
Currently being retrofitted with new Aussie tech, phased array feed receivers, to expand their width of field.
