696 Encyclopedia of the Solar System
(a) (b)
(c)
FIGURE 1 (a) The Cambridge Low-Frequency Synthesis Telescope (CLFST) is an east–west aperture synthesis
radio telescope, which currently operates at 151 MHz. It consists of 60 yagi antennas on a 4.6 km baseline. The
telescope is located at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. In addition to the astronomical 6C and 7C 151
MHz catalogues, it also participated in a worldwide campaign to observe Jupiter (Fig. 18). (Courtesy Mullard Radio
Astronomy Observatory.) (b) Aerial photograph of the Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico. (Image
Courtesy NRAO/AUI Very Large Array is a facility of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, operated by the
Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), under contract with the National Science Foundation.) (c) The former
Berkeley–Illinois–Maryland Association (BIMA) array at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in its most compact
configuration. The telescopes each have a diameter of 6 m, and operate at millimeter wavelengths. (Courtesy Seth
Shostak/SETI Institute.) The BIMA array is now being merged with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO)
millimeter array into the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) at Cedar Flat in
eastern California.
FIGURE 2 (a) A generic antenna pattern consists of
a “main” lobe and a number of smaller “side” lobes,
as depicted in the figure. The half power beam
width is the full width at half power (FWHP). (After
J. D. Kraus, 1986, “Radio Astronomy,” Cygnus
Quasar Books, Powell, Ohio.) (b) Top: Geometry of
a two-element interferometer. Bottom: Antenna
response for a single element of the interferometer
(left) and response of the interferometer (right) to
an unresolved radio source. (S. Gulkis and I. de
Pater, 2002, Radio astronomy, planetary,
“Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology,”
vol. 13, 3rd Ed., Academic Press, pp 687–712.)
