Astronomy with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland-Association (BIMA) Array

伯克利-伊利诺伊-马里兰阵列（BIMA）是一种毫米波干涉仪，目前由6个直径为6米的天线组成；计划在未来几年内扩展到至少9个天线。BIMA位于伯克利的Hat Creek射电天文台，由加州大学伯克利分校、伊利诺伊大学和马里兰大学共同出资运营，由美国国家科学基金会和国家资助。这些奖项是针对每个机构同时提交的相同提案，并支持在BIMA阵列进行的天文研究、技术开发和学生培训。BIMA的天文研究包括对太阳系天体、恒星包层、银河系恒星形成区域和外部星系分子云的高分辨率研究。在过去的三年里，BIMA取得了显著的成就，包括扩展到6个元素，开发了一种新型的高可靠性4K闭式循环制冷机，探测到木星大气中毫米波长的波段，以及落在恒星形成的核心上。在下一个拨款期间，观测将继续进行，阵列将扩展到总共至少9个元素，阵列基线将扩展到至少750米，在1.3毫米波长下提供0.2弧秒的角分辨率。

9314847 Blitz The Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array (BIMA) is a millimeter-wave interferometer presently made up of 6 six-meter diameter antennas; expansion to at least 9 antennas is planned during the next few years. Located at Berkeley's Hat Creek Radio Observatory, BIMA was jointly capitalized and is jointly operated by the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland through a combination of NSF and State funding. These awards are for identical proposals submitted simultaneously by each institution, and support astronomical research, technological development and student training carried out at the BIMA array. Astronomical research at BIMA includes high resolution studies of solar system objects, stellar envelopes, star-forming regions in the Galaxy, and molecular clouds in external galaxies. Notable accomplishments during the past three years at BIMA include expansion to 6 elements, the development of a novel high- reliability 4K closed cycle refrigerator stage, the detection of bands in the Jovian atmosphere at millimeter wavelengths, and infall onto star forming cores. During the next grant period observations will continue, the array will be expanded to a total of at least 9 elements, and the array baselines will be extended to at least 750 meters, providing angular resolution of 0.2 arcseconds at a wavelength of 1.3mm.