JIVE confirms first interferometric fringes with the Colombo radio telescope (Azores islands)

© JIVE

The Colombo radio telescope in Azores (Portugal) participated, for the first time, in a geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) experiment on 21st February 2018, together with the 40m radio telescope at the Yebes Observatory (Spain).

The successful observations in S (2 GHz) and X (8 GHz) bands were confirmed after data recorded by both telescopes was sent to JIVE for further analysis and correlation.

"This result has been long sought, the Colombo radio telescope is in a very strategic location for VLBI. The intense team work demonstrates great technical capability, and the importance of international cooperation”, says Paco Colomer, JIVE Director.

Colombo is a 13.2m radio telescope at the RAEGE station in Santa Maria (Azores), while the 40m radio telescope at Yebes Observatory is operated by the Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN). Colombo is the second telescope that will constitute the Spanish-Portuguese Atlantic Network of Geodynamic and Space Stations (RAEGE).

RAEGE is a project of the IGN and the Regional Government of the Azores consisting of a network of 4 Fundamental Geodetic Stations located in Yebes (Guadalajara, Spain), the Azores Islands (Santa Maria and Flores, Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, Spain), It is integrated into the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS), which, among other objectives, measures the movements of terrestrial tectonic plates, the Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP), the length of day (LoD), and constructs the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF).