VLBI in Australia ? A Review

Abstract

After two decades of Australian VLBI (very long baseline interferometry), high-resolution radio astronomy continues to be an active and fruitful research field. The status of Australian VLBI programs in astrophysics, astrometry and geodesy is reviewed and likely future developments are outlined. In addition to research programs with the Australian VLBI network, a number of successful collaborative projects are underway with overseas VLBI observatories. The inception of the Asia-Pacific Telescope will provide an important formal basis for fostering and extending international VLBI experiments in the Australian hemisphere. The APT will also serve a vital function in coordinating ground-based observations when the Soviet and Japanese VLBI space missions, Radioastron and VSOP, are launched in the middle of this decade. However, continued viable Australian participation in VLBI into the nineties will require new wide-bandwidth recording systems and an Australian VLBI correlator.