Altitude 570 m (1,870 ft) | ||
Organisation National Institute for Space Research Location(s) Cachoeira Paulista , Brazil Telescope style radio telescope, Astronomical interferometer, Solar telescope Website www.das.inpe.br/fmi/bda/ | ||
The Brazilian Decimetric Array (BDA) is a 26-element radio telescope interferometer located in the municipality of Cachoeira Paulista in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is capable of performing both solar and stellar observations in three bands: 1.2 - 1.7, 2.8 and 5.6 GHz. The BDA will obtain radio images from the sun with a spatial resolution ~4x6 arc seconds. The project was conceived and driven by Dr. H. S. Sawant.
The "T"-shaped BDA is being constructed in three phases. The first phase was a linear array of five 4.0 m (13.1 ft) parabolic antennas on alt-azimuth telescope mounts laid out on an east-west baseline of 216 m (709 ft). The dishes were originally installed at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) campus in São José dos Campos in 2003 for testing. They were moved to Cachoeira Paulista in 2004. Beginning in 2010, the second phase was added. Nine antenna were placed on a new north-south baseline of 166 m (545 ft), and twelve antenna were added to the original east-west baseline, extending it to a total of 252 m (827 ft). A third phase yet to be built will increase the number of antenna to 38. The final baselines will be 2.27 km in the east-west and 1.17 km in the north-south directions respectively.