Progress through Photos
This webpage is devoted to Progress through Photos; as the
construction of the LWDA test station at the VLA develops and sites for other
LWA stations are explored, we will replace older photos with newer ones.
Additional photos may be found on the
LWA Wiki
Long Wavelength Array
LWA Executive Project Director hired.
Dr. Lee J. Rickard was hired at UNM in April 2007
in the position of Executive Project Director for the Long Wavelength
Array (LWA). Lee J. was formerly at the Naval Research Lab,
and is a well respected scientist who has published in both ionospheric
and astronomical journals. Lee J. will be establishing
the LWA Project Office on South Campus at UNM.
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The two LWA Directors - Left: Lee J. Rickard, Executive Project Director and Right: Greg Taylor, Scientific Director - at a party celebrating Lee J.'s arrival.
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Site Testing for LWA Stations
Testing for radio interference at potential sites for other LWA stations began in December 2006.
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Testing at the Twin Peaks site - located north of US 60 and west of the North arm of the VLA. U-Haul truck with test equipment, big blade antenna infront and power supply equal red item in field to the right. December 15, 2006
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Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array LWDA
Welcome to the Construction site
The LWDA is a test bed for the development of the LWA - it is located on the VLA site.
The Specmaster Data website lets you view Daily Dynamic Spectra and learn about special events from Big Blade at the LWDA site.
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Commissioning observations made in October 2006 by the Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array (LWDA) highlight its all sky imaging capability. This 24 hour movie (also available in mpg format) is made at a frequency of 73.8 MHz and shows the full sky as visible from the LWDA site in New Mexico. As the sky rotates, emission from the bright sources Cassiopeia A, Cygnus A, and the Sun, as well as the bright regions of the Galactic Plane, are all clearly visible. The Galactic Center region is marked by the position of the Sagittarius A complex. This movie was made by Tracy Clarke (NRL/Interferometrics Inc) using AIPS to process the observations from the LWDA.
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During second half of October 2006 all the hardware was installed at the site, including both polarizations and digital receivers for all the dipoles. Careful phase calibrations were performed and these movies demonstrate how successful they were. Congratulations to all who made this possible.
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| LWDA site - 16 dipoles and electronics trailer (right back) with VLA antennas in the background as photographed in early August 2006.
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| New large blade antenna for testing (photo - August 2006).
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| The first results are displayed
in power point presentations at URSI and AAS in January 2006.
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| Construction of the LWDA began at the VLA site
during the Autumn 2005.
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