2-6 September 2024
CJD Bonn Castell
Europe/Berlin timezone
Home > Timetable > Session details > Contribution details

Contribution

CJD Bonn Castell

TNRO: A Beacon for Southeast Asia's VLBI Advancement and Role in Global VLBI Networks

Speakers

  • Dr. Koichiro SUGIYAMA

Primary authors

Co-authors

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.