China, Japan and S Korea have decided to build transnational Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) network. The network consists of 20 radio telescopes that form a 6,000 km diameter network for a more sophisticated observation of black holes and galaxies.
According to Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" website, 13 radio telescopes of the National Observatory of Japan, Hokkaido University and other institutions will join this observation network; three new telescopes in Korea Astronomical Research Institute in Seoul, Ulsan and Cheju Island are to be completed soon; four telescopes in Beijing, Shanghai, Urumqi and Kunming are also scheduled to participate in the observation network.
VLBI network is the technology to use more than one telescope at the same time to observe the same celestial bodies. To connect telescopes in different locations is like to form a large aperture telescope. Telescopes in the network collect the data and send them to the data processing center; putting the data from different locations together we can get details of celestial bodies. The more telescopes in network, the greater the distance between each other, the clear will the images of celestial bodies be.
This VLBI Network by China, Japan and South Korea has two main observation missions: draw accurate star map of stars in the galaxy and study black holes. The United States has built a 8,000 km diameter VLBI network; in Europe, the diameter of similar network is about 3,000 km. This new VLBI network by China, Japan and South Korea has more telescopes and greater sensitivity, accuracy of observation will be promoted to a new level.
By People's Daily Online
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