Premier observatories include the Very Large Array (VLA) in Socorro, New Mexico, the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) in Big Pine, California, the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland interferometer in Hat Creek, California, the Smithsonian Submillimeter Array (SMA) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii (currently under construction), and the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer near Pico Valeta, Spain.
The VLA consists of 27 antennas, each 25 m in diameter. Construction was begun in 1972 and completed in 1980. The array configurations and the distance of the furthest antenna from the center of the Y are: A (21 km), B (6.4 km), C (1.95 km), D (0.59 km). From the figure,
so the maximum separations are 35, 11, 3.4, and 1.0 km. Receiving bands are 327 MHz, 1.34-1.73 GHz (18-21 cm, L band), 4.5-5.0 GHz (6 cm, C band), 14.4-15.4 GHz (2 cm, U band), and 22-24 GHz (1.3 cm, K band). For relevant lines in these regions, see Thompson et al. (p. 158). The half-power angular beam width is given by
where n = 1, 2, 3, 4 for the A, B, C, and D configurations.
References
Cornwell, T. J. and Perley, R. A. (Eds.). Radio Interferometry: Theory, Techniques, and Applications. San Francisco, CA: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 1991.
Francon, M. Optical Interferometry. New York: Academic Press, 1966.
Hariharan, P. Basics of Interferometry. AP, 1991.
Hariharan, P. Optical Interferometry. Sydney: Academic Press, 1985.
Jones, R. and Wykes, C. Holographic and Speckle Interferometry: A Discussion of the Theory, Practice, and Application of the Techniques, 2nd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Perley, R.; Schwab, F.; and Bridle, A. Synthesis Imaging in Radio Astronomy. Third NRAO Summer School, 1988.
Rastogi, P. K. Holographic Interferometry. 1994.
Soumekh, M. Fourier Array Imaging. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1994.
Steel, W. H. Interferometry, 2nd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Thompson, A. R.; Moran, J. M.; and Swenson, G. W., J. Interferometry and Synthesis in Radio Astronomy. New York: Wiley, 1986.
Weisstein, E. W. "Books about Synthesis Imaging." http://www.ericweisstein.com/encyclopedias/books/SynthesisImaging.html.
Wohlleben, R.; Mattes, H.; and Krichbaum, T. (Eds.). Interferometry in Radioastronomy and Radar Techniques. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer, 1991.
Zensus, J. A.; Diamond, P. J.; and Napier, P. J. (Eds.). Very Long Baseline Interferometry and the VLBA. San Francisco, CA: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 1995.
