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I.E. Molotov, A.A. Chuprikov (Astro Space Center of P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute), C. Salter, T. Ghosh (Arecibo Observatory)
The loan of an S2 VLBI recording terminal to Arecibo Observatory by the Space Geodynamics Laboratory, ISTS (now CRESTech), Canada, for support of the VSOP mission, opens the possibility of Arecibo participating in ground based VLBI observations. I.e. in collaboration with an international ad-hoc S2 array that has begun to operate under the Low Frequency VLBI Network (LFVN) project. LFVN arranges VLBI experiments using the telescopes in 11 countries which are equipped with S2 systems, together with the Penticton S2 correlator in Canada. A wide spectrum of baselines has been achieved, up to the largest on Earth, while the participation of Arecibo can ensure the high sensitivity of this S2 array. The first LFVN S2 observations including Arecibo were carried out at a wavelength of 18 cm on December 2, 1998, as part of INTAS98.5. This experiment with participation of three Russian antennas (Bear Lakes RT-64, Puschino RT-22 and Svetloe RT-32), Green Bank RT-43 and HartRAO RT-26 included 7 hrs of observation of weak sources on the Arecibo-Green Bank baseline. The successful processing of INTAS98.5 and two other observations (INTAS98.2 and INTAS99.4) by the Penticton correlator confirms the feasibility of this initiative (the post-processing was made at Astro Space Center, Russia). These VLBI observations may be continued with the Green Bank RT-100, Penticton RT-26 and Madrid RT-70. (The next S2 experiment is planned for October-November 2001). The recent equipping of Arecibo with a 92-cm receiver also opens new opportunities for LFVN cooperation, especially as there is a plan to also supply AlgoPark RT-46 and Penticton RT-26 in Canada with 92-cm facilities. Another field of interest for cooperation may be the radar VLBI research of the nearer planets with the S2 system recording of transmitted and reflected signals.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: molotov@asc.rssi.ru