MRI-R2: Acquisition of Recording Media to Triple the Sensitivity of the VLBA

MRI-R2：获取记录介质使 VLBA 的灵敏度提高三倍

• 批准号: 0959808
• 负责人: Robert Walker
• 金额: $ 50.73万
• 依托单位: Associated Universities, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-04-01 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0959808&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; R2; Acquisition; Recording; Media

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).In order for astronomers to have the highest possible resolution to detect objects of the smallest angular size, they require large telescopes, or they combine the light from telescopes that are separated from one another. As the separation between the telescopes increases, so does the ability to resolve finer details. The largest platform that is currently in use for astronomy is the earth itself. Radio astronomers use radio telescopes that are spread by thousands of miles in what is called the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA). A large number of important scientific problems are investigated with the VLBA which also provides an important service in determining the positions and motions of objects on the sky, a branch of astronomy called astrometry. Astrometry is important for all astronomers, but it also serves commercial and defense interests for satellite navigation and calibration of the GPS system. Radio astronomers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) have realized that they can significantly increase the sensitivity of the VLBA by adding computing power and data storage capabilities to the signal processing equipment that correlates the signals from the telescopes. Their work, sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation program, will allow scientists to see fainter objects to probe farther and deeper into space. It will also allow them to improve the accuracy of measurements made for astrometry. The work will be led by Dr. R. Craig Walker of NRAO in Socorro, NM.

该奖项是根据 2009 年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法 111-5）资助的。为了让天文学家拥有尽可能高的分辨率来探测最小角尺寸的物体，他们需要大型望远镜，或者将来自彼此分离的望远镜的光线结合起来。 随着望远镜之间的距离增加，解析更精细细节的能力也随之增加。目前用于天文学的最大平台是地球本身。 射电天文学家使用分布数千英里的射电望远镜，称为甚大基线阵列（VLBA）。 VLBA 研究了大量重要的科学问题，它还为确定天空中物体的位置和运动提供了重要服务，这是天文学的一个分支，称为天体测量学。 天体测量对于所有天文学家都很重要，但它也服务于卫星导航和 GPS 系统校准的商业和国防利益。 美国国家射电天文台 (NRAO) 的射电天文学家已经意识到，通过向与望远镜信号相关的信号处理设备增加计算能力和数据存储能力，他们可以显着提高 VLBA 的灵敏度。 他们的工作由美国国家科学基金会的主要研究仪器计划赞助，将使科学家能够看到更暗的物体，从而更深入地探索太空。它还将使他们能够提高天体测量测量的准确性。 这项工作将由新墨西哥州索科罗 NRAO 的 R. Craig Walker 博士领导。