Antenna Sites

Table 1 gives the geographic locations of the ten stations comprising the VLBA, ordered from East through West.  All locations are based on the WGS84 ellipsoid used by the GPS system, with Earth radius \(a=6378.137\: \rm{km}\) and flattening \(1/f=298.257223563\).  See Napier (1995) for further site information.

 

Table 1: Geographic Locations of VLBA Stations

North West


Latitude Longitude Elevation Code
Location [° ′ ″] [ ° ′ ″] [m]
Saint Croix, VI 17:45:23.68 64:35:01.07 16 SC
Hancock, NH 42:56:00.99 71:59:11.69 296 HN
North Liberty, IA 41:46:17.13 91:34:26.88 222 NL
Fort Davis, TX 30:38:06.11 103:56:41.34 1606 FD
Los Alamos, NM 35:46:30.45 106:14:44.15 1962 LA
Pie Town, NM 34:18:03.61 108:07:09.06 2365 PT
Kitt Peak, AZ 31:57:22.70 111:36:44.72 1902 KP
Owens Valley, CA 37:13:53.95 118:16:37.37 1196 OV
Brewster, WA 48:07:52.42 119:40:59.80 250 BR
Mauna Kea, HI 19:48:04.97 155:27:19.81 3763 MK

 

Several other radio telescopes often participate in VLBI observing in conjunction with the VLBA.   A High Sensitivity Array (HSA) currently comprises the VLBA, Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) -- all NRAO facilities, plus Arecibo (operated by the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center), and Effelsberg (operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie).   A separate document presents a more detailed description of the HSA; locations of the HSA telescopes are listed in Table 2.  HSA observing proposals are addressed on a separate page of this document.

The phased VLA rejoined the HSA as of observing semester 2013A, after a three-year gap during construction of the EVLA.  An expanded (but still partial) set of modes will be available for semester 2013B.

The VLBA joins with the European VLBI Network (EVN) in a global cm-wave VLBI network during EVN sessions, and with networks of geodetic stations during global campaigns.  Proposals for these and other, less frequent worldwide collaborative observations are addressed on a separate page of this document.

 

Table 2: Locations of HSA Telescopes

North West


Latitude Longitude Elevation Code
Location [° ′ ″] [ ° ′ ″] [m]
VLA, NM 34:04:43.75 107:37:05.91 2115 Y27
Green Bank, WV 38:25:59.24 79:50:23.41 807 GB
Arecibo, PR 18:20:36.60 66:45:11.10 497 AR
Effelsberg, Germany 50:31:30 −6:53:00.3 319 EB

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