NRL and the Long Wavelength Array
The 16 element dual polarization active dipole antennas of the Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array located at the VLA site. The control hut is located beyond them, and VLA antennas appear in the background. The VLA was in the D-configuration (~1 km maximum baseline) at the time of this photo.
NRL has played a leading role in the development of low frequency radio astronomy, beginning with its partnership with NRAO in the early 1990s to develop the first sub-arcminute resolution imaging system operating below 100 MHz. The 74 MHz system on the VLA is still the most powerful connected-element synthesis telescope operating below the FM bands, and its success has helped inspire an ongoing renaissance in low frequency radio astronomy that is seeing the emergence of a generation of new, exciting, and much more powerful instruments. These include the Low Frequency Array, the Murchison Widefield Array, and the Long Wavelength Array.
Image from a flyer advertising the meeting "Science with Wavelengths on Human Scales" held in honor of Bill Erickson in Sante Fe in September 8-11 2004. The proceedings of the meeting were published in "From Clark Lake to the Long Wavelength Array: Bill Erickson's Radio Science", ASP Volume 345, 2005. The image on the left is the 5 GHz image of the radio galaxy Hydra A published by Taylor et al. 1990. The right image is the 74 MHz VLA image from Lane et al. 2004.
NRL is a major partner in the LWA project, which will be a low-frequency radio telescope designed to produce high-sensitivity, high-resolution images in the frequency range of 20-80 MHz, thus opening a new astronomical window on one of the most poorly explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This will be accomplished with large collecting area (approaching 1 square kilometer at its lowest frequencies) spread over an interferometric array with baselines up to at least 400 km. The LWA project is led by the University of New Mexico, and includes the University of Texas Applied Research Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory , and NRL. Collectively these institutions form the Southwest Consortium (SWC), whose goal is to develop the LWA in New Mexico. The core of the LWA will be located near the site of the VLA, but it will encompass interferometer stations spread throughout and possibly beyond the state of New Mexico.
Please visit UNM's LWA page for more information about the LWA project, including news from the currently operational LWA Demonstrator Array (LWDA).
Visit the LWA memo series.
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