Using the combined power of nine
radio telescopes arrayed across the Southern Hemisphere, the images reveal features just 15 light - days across in the heart of the nearby galaxy Centaurus A, 12 million light - years away.
Not exact matches
But the real debut for this technology is likely to be the Square Kilometre
Array (SKA), the world's largest
radio telescope, whose thousands of antennas will be strewn
across the southern hemisphere (New Scientist, 2 June, p 4).
To sharpen that vision, astronomers used the Very Long Baseline
Array of 10
radio telescopes spread
across North America.
Using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline
Array (VLBA), an interlinked system of 10
radio telescopes stretching
across Hawaii, North America and the Caribbean, the astronomers have directly measured the distance to an object called G007.47 +00.05, a star - forming region located on the opposite side of the galaxy from our solar system.
To do this, the researchers will use the Event Horizon
Telescope (EHT)-- a combination of more than 10
radio telescopes and
telescope arrays scattered
across the planet — which should be able to see all the way to the edge of Sagittarius A *, some 26,000 light - years away.
Square Kilometer
Array What: The world's largest radio telescope, with an array of 150 antennas, each 330 feet ac
Array What: The world's largest
radio telescope, with an
array of 150 antennas, each 330 feet ac
array of 150 antennas, each 330 feet
across.
The VLA is the most advanced
radio telescope array on Earth, a customizable interferometer that spans up to 22 miles
across.
The ALMA
radio telescope array was able to observe the faint millimeter - wavelength «glow» emitted by DeeDee, confirming the object is roughly 395 miles (635 kilometers
across).
To measure these movements, the team used the Very Long Baseline
Array — 10
radio telescopes located
across the U.S. — to observe different
radio signals coming from the supermassive black holes.