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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
physics and astronomy
FIRST LIGHT for the FIRST STATION of the LONG WAVELENGTH ARRAY
Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, Volume 1, No. 1, Article 1250004, Year 2012
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Description
The first station of the Long Wavelength Array (LWA1) was completed in April 2011 and is currently performing observations resulting from its first call for proposals in addition to a continuing program of commissioning and characterization observations. The instrument consists of 258 dual-polarization dipoles, which are digitized and combined into beams. Four independently-steerable dual-polarization beams are available, each with two tunings of 16 MHz bandwidth that can be independently tuned to any frequency between 10 MHz and 88 MHz. The system equivalent flux density for zenith pointing is 3 kJy and is approximately independent of frequency; this corresponds to a sensitivity of ~5 Jy/beam (5, 1 s); making it one of the most sensitive meter-wavelength radio telescopes. LWA1 also has two "transient buffer" modes which allow coherent recording from all dipoles simultaneously, providing instantaneous all-sky field of view. LWA1 provides versatile and unique new capabilities for Galactic science, pulsar science, solar and planetary science, space weather, cosmology, and searches for astrophysical transients. Results from LWA1 will detect or tightly constrain the presence of hot Jupiters within 50 parsecs of Earth. LWA1 will provide excellent resolution in frequency and in time to examine phenomena such as solar bursts, and pulsars over a 4:1 frequency range that includes the poorly understood turnover and steep-spectrum regimes. Observations to date have proven LWA1's potential for pulsar observing, and just a few seconds with the completed 256-dipole LWA1 provide the most sensitive images of the sky at 23 MHz obtained yet. We are operating LWA1 as an open skies radio observatory, offering ~2000 beam-hours per year to the general community. At the same time, we are operating a backend for all-sky imaging and total-power transient detection, approximately 6840 hours per year (~78% duty cycle). © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company.
Authors & Co-Authors
Taylor, Gregory B.
United States, Albuquerque
The University of new Mexico
United States, Charlottesville
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Ellingson, Steven W.
United States, Blacksburg
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Kassim, Namir E.
United States, Washington, D.c.
U.s. Naval Research Laboratory
Craig, Joseph
United States, Albuquerque
The University of new Mexico
Dowell, Jayce D.
United States, Albuquerque
The University of new Mexico
Hartman, Jacob M.
United States, Washington, D.c.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Bernardi, Gianni
United States, Cambridge
Harvard-smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Clarke, Tracy E.
United States, Washington, D.c.
U.s. Naval Research Laboratory
Greenhill, Lincoln J.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard-smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Lazio, T. Joseph W.
United States, Washington, D.c.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mitchell, Daniel A.
Australia, Melbourne
University of Melbourne
Navarro, Robert
United States, Washington, D.c.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Ord, Stephen M.
United States, Cambridge
Harvard-smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Polisensky, Emil J.
United States, Washington, D.c.
U.s. Naval Research Laboratory
Ray, Paul S.
United States, Washington, D.c.
U.s. Naval Research Laboratory
Schinzel, Frank K.
United States, Albuquerque
The University of new Mexico
Stovall, Kevin
United States, Brownsville
University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College
Tremblay, Steven E.
Australia, Sydney
Arc Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics
Australia, Perth
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
Weiler, Kurt W.
United States, Washington, D.c.
U.s. Naval Research Laboratory
Statistics
Citations: 122
Authors: 19
Affiliations: 17
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1142/S2251171712500043
ISSN:
22511717