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Contribution
TNRO: A Beacon for Southeast Asia's VLBI Advancement and Role in Global VLBI Networks
Speakers
- Dr. Koichiro SUGIYAMA
Primary authors
- Dr. Koichiro SUGIYAMA (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization))
Co-authors
- Dr. Nobuyuki SAKAI (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization))
- Dr. Phrudth JAROENJITTICHAI (NARIT)
- Mr. Apichat LECKNGAM (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization))
- Dr. Busaba KRAMER (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy)
- Dr. Wiphu RUJOPAKARN (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization))
- Dr. Boonrucksar SOONTHORNTHUM (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization))
- Dr. Gundolf WIECHING (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy)
- Prof. Pablo VICENTE (Observatorio de Yebes - IGN)
- Dr. José Antonio LÓPEZ PÉREZ (Yebes Observatory)
- Prof. Zhiqiang SHEN (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS)
- Prof. Jinling LI (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS)
- Prof. Fengchun SHU (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS)
- Prof. Taufiq HIDAYAT (Institut Teknologi Bandung)
- Prof. Zamri Zainal ABIDIN (Universiti Malaya)
- Dr. Juan-Carlos ALGABA-MARCOS (Universiti Malaya)
- Dr. Pham Ngoc DIEP (Vietnam National Space Center)
- Dr. Saran POSHYACHINDA (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization))
Content
In 2017, the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) launched a national flagship project with the empyreal goal of capacity building and technology development through the construction of national radio telescopes for radio astronomy and geodesy. To achieve this, NARIT has established the Thai National Radio Astronomy Observatory (TNRO), in Chiangmai, the northern part of Thailand. At this observatory, two radio telescopes have been constructed: one is a 40-m Thai National Radio Telescope (TNRT) in collaboration with Yebes Observatory, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, and Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, and another one is a 13- m VGOS radio telescope as its co-location in collaboration with Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. The 40-m TNRT is the largest telescope for radio astronomy in Southeast Asia, offering flexible operation across a wide frequency range of 0.3-115 GHz. This capability enables significant contributions to time-domain astronomy and allows for comprehensive surveys across various scientific research fields, as outlined in a recently published white paper. Collaborating with VLBI arrays in the world, such as the European VLBI Network (EVN), the TNRT will drastically enhance the imaging quality and performance due to its unique geographical location. This advancement marks a significant step for both radio astronomy and geodetic VLBI studies.
In this presentation, we will review the progress of TNRO, including the Call for Proposals initiated in October 2023, and the preparations for VLBI observations, highlighted by the first fringe detection in the L-band. Additionally, we will discuss the future expansion of TNRO through the construction of additional VGOS stations and the vision for establishing forthcoming regional VLBI networks based on TNRT. This includes the Thai National VLBI Array and Southeast Asia VLBI Network, in collaboration with Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.