The Millimeter Array

Author

Thompson, A.R.

Author_Institution

Nat. Radio Astron. Obs., Charlottesville, VA, USA

fYear

1992

fDate

1-5 June 1992

Firstpage

1247

Abstract

A brief review of the purpose and the design of the Millimeter Array, (MMA) is given. Particular attention is paid to the effects of the atmosphere and to millimeter-wavelength components, which are the antennas, the low-noise input stages, and the local oscillator system. The MMA is a radioastronomy instrument planned for construction at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. in the 1990s. It will consist of 40 antennas working in the range 30 to 350 GHz for imaging cosmic sources with an angular resolution as fine as 0.06 arcseconds. The antennas are to be movable between sets of foundations so as to provide four two-dimensional configurations in which the overall size of the array can be varied from 70 m to 3 km. The angular resolution can thereby be selected to match a wide range of astronomical requirements.<>

Keywords

microwave antenna arrays; radiotelescopes; reflector antennas; 30 to 350 GHz; 70 m to 3 km; EHF; Millimeter Array; National Radio Astronomy Observatory; angular resolution; antennas; local oscillator system; low-noise input stages; millimeter-wavelength components; radioastronomy instrument; two-dimensional configurations; Antenna accessories; Antenna arrays; Atmosphere; Attenuation; Instruments; Local oscillators; Microwave antenna arrays; Observatories; Radio astronomy; Receiving antennas;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 1992., IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Albuquerque, NM, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0611-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.1992.188226

Filename

188226