I knew about the lack of comparable sensitivity, but the gain in resolution should allow for many of the objects that we are inferring are there to be more easily "seen". But the real question is if it is worth the cost.
Thanks for the clarifications.
[Quote=Mike Kremer]
Mike Kremer's reply.
Hi again- Newtons.Third
This is more of an update more than two years late. I am sorry about this ...but very interesting all the same...
Since this Russian Telescope "RadioAstron"
is using a projected Base Line of up to 20 Earth diameters.!!!
Its discoverys are somewhat technical-- so I am posting the
Russian 'RadioAstron' Newsletter No 19 (in English for all to read)
**************
"Record breaking results of AGN studies with RadioAstron
RadioAstron AGN survey continues to bring new exciting results.
Already many active galactic nuclei are detected at 18 and 6 cm up to the projected baselines of 20 Earth diameters.
As expected, results at longest projections are mostly delivered on baselines with the most sensitive ground radio telescopes { Eelsberg (Germany), Arecibo and GBT (USA). In the same time, all of the ground radio telescopes participating in the AGN survey routinely result in positive
Space VLBI detections with Spektr-R.
Observations of 3C273 in January 2013 have broken the record of angular resolution announced last year by ground based 1.3 mm VLBI observations of 3C279 with APEX, SMA,and SMT.
The quasar was detected at 8.1 Earth diameters (7.6 G, fringe spacing 27 arcsec,see Figure 1) by the RadioAstron-GBT interferometer at 1.3 cm.
In the beginning of February 2013 RadioAstron has successfully observed the radio galaxy M87. These 1.3 cm observations were, for the rst time, supported from the ground by the
phased VLA. Angular resolution was comparable to the size of a shadow of the super-massive black in the center of M87, as predicted by the theory. The AGN working group is currently
reducing the data.
Pulsars at long interferometer baselines and interstellar medium
Several eects accompany propagation of radio waves through an in homogeneous interstellar plasma: angular broadening, temporal smearing, distortions in radio spectrum, and intensity
http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/news/news_en.pdfmodulation (scintillations). These eects are due to interference of separate radio rays scattered
or focused by random plasma inhomogeneities ("rough lenses"). Modern theoretical treatment of mentioned above scattering eects predicts very low level of visibility amplitude for distant pulsars at long space-ground baselines of the RadioAstron mission. In contrast to these theoret-ical predictions strong visibilities were detected in observations of the distant pulsar B0329+54.
The observations were conducted with the GBT 100-m radio telescope of NRAO in Green Bank and RadioAstron space telescope at a frequency of 316 MHz. Distance to the spacecraft was about 275 000 km, and RadioAstron-GBT baseline projection was equal to 150 000 km. Fringe visibility amplitude as a function of fringe rate and delay is shown in Figure 2. For a source without scattering one should expect the presence of an isolated peak in the center of the picture. Instead, there is the presence of the whole ensemble of such peaks, each corresponding to certain combination of scattered rays. The observed structure is slowly varying with time at a scale of about 100 seconds. Thus, obtained results require a revision of our understanding of the structure of the interstellar plasma irregularities, and call for a new interpretation of the scattering of radio waves.Galactic water masers
Successful detection of interference fringes for the water maser in the high-mass star formation region W3 IRS5 located in the Perseus arm at a distance of 1.83 kpc is reported. Correlated msignal was obtained with space radio interferometer baselines between the orbiting 10-meter
antenna Spektr-R and the 40-m radio telescope in Yebes (Spain) and 32-m ground radio tele- scope in Torun (Poland). Observing session was held on 2 February 2013. The long projected
baseline length (5.4 Earth diameters, about 69 000 km) at the frequency of the water maser
transition (22 GHz) corresponds to an angular resolution of about 40 arcsec. This is equiva-lent to a linear resolution of 0.074 AU (11 million km) for W3 IRS5. This result represents the highest angular resolution ever obtained in observations of water masers. The observations are
part of a RadioAstron campaign to explore the existence of very compact maser structures.
With best regards!
Nikolai Kardashev (nkardash@asc.rssi.ru)
Yuri Kovalev (yyk@asc.rssi.ru)
To subscribe or un-subscribe to the Newsletter, use:
http://asc-lebedev.ru/index2.php?engdep=22FINIS
*******************
PS. I NOW HAVE the Russian News Letter in English Plus Diagrams
(hopefully they will work for you all?)
http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/news/news_en.pdfAND HERE. BUT USE THIS FIRST below!!!(It Works)
http://asc-lebedev.ru/index2.php