Recent news and science highlights from e-MERLIN, MERLIN and VLBI

Cycle-1 e-MERLIN : CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Deadline : Midnight (23:59 GMT) 17th June 2013

The second open round for e-MERLIN proposals is planned for 2013, with observations scheduled for September 2013 onwards.

Please see Cycle-1 call for proposals and technical capabilities or email emerlin [at] jb.man.ac.uk if you have any questions about e-MERLIN Cycle 1 observing opportunities.

Mysterious hot spots observed in a cool red supergiant

25th April 2013

Full article

Astronomers have released a new image of the outer atmosphere of Betelgeuse one of the nearest red supergiants to Earth revealing the detailed structure of the matter being thrown off the star.

The new image, taken by the e-MERLIN radio telescope array operated from the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, also shows regions of surprisingly hot gas in the star?s outer atmosphere and a cooler arc of gas weighing almost as much as the Earth.

K-band status and upgrades:

April 2013

Work is progressing on upgrading the eMERLIN K band receivers by replacing the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) with a new MMIC design. Current tests indicate that the new LNAs will deliver a more uniform and significantly lower system temperature across the band from about 19.9 GHz to 26 GHz while providing the full 2GHz per polarization eMERLIN bandwidth.

Initial telescope tests are currently expected towards the end of summer 2013, with the full system expected to be deployed on all e-MERLIN telescopes and available for Cycle-2 observations.

e-MERLIN reveals the structure of a new 'superluminal transient' source in M82

November 2012

Full article

Recent observations using the newly available e-MERLIN telescope have revealed the resolved structure of 'superluminal transient' radio source in M82. Results from these new observations, which have been obtained for the LeMMINGs e-MERLIN legacy project have recently been presented at a large international conference in Bordeaux, France.

M82 Supernova Remnant observed
with e-MERLIN

e-MERLIN C-band image of typical radio supernova remnant in M82. These observations were taken as part of the e-MERLIN LeMMINGs legacy programme.

M82 transient observed with e-MERLIN and Global VLBI

The left image shows a high resolution Global VLBI image at 5GHz of the transient source in M82. The right-hand image show the same source observed with e-MERLIN in 2012. Whilst at lower resolution the sensitivity and imaging quality of e-MERLIN allows this source to be resolved in an east-west direction confirming the earlier MERLIN proper motion estimates of its expansion and the VLBI imaging. These e-MERLIN (and VLBI) observations are part of ongoing research under the e-MERLIN legacy project, LeMMINGs.

The boiling face of Betelgeuse

November 2012

e-MERLIN has resolved fine details on the face of Betelgeuse. These are the highest-resolution images at cm wavelengths which show the full extent of the radiio photosphere, 25 AU (125 milli-arcsec) in radius, 6 times the optical photosphere. The sensitivity afforded by 500 MHz bandwidth, centred on 5.75 GHz (5.2 cm), reveals an additional arc to the SW. This probably represents enhanced mass loss, also seen in the IR by Kervella et al. (2009, 2011). The mass loss mechanism for a massive star like Betelgeuse just entering the red supergiant phase is rather mysterious, as there is not enough dust close to the star for radiation pressure on grains to drive a wind. The average brightness temperature of the radio photosphere at 5-6 GHz is about 1200 K, but e-MERLIN resolved two hotspots at 4000-5000 K. This is higher than the peak temperature of the optical photosphere (3600 K). The hot spots could be due to Betelgeuse's patchy chromosphere which is known to have a low filling factor (Harper et al. 2006), or to convection or pulsation shocks. Further work will identify which mechanism is responsible and the relationship with processes which could eject clumps of matter from the stellar surface to form the wind.

These results will be presented in a forthcoming publication and at the Betelgeuse Workshop 2012
The observations were made by A. M. S. Richards, R.J. Davis, S.T. Garrington, I. McDonald (University of Manchester), S. Etoka (University of Manchester and Hamburger Sternwarte), L. Decin (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), J. J. Lim (University of Hong Kong and Academia Sinica) and Markus Wittkowski (ESO).

e-MERLIN's deep radio survey of the Hubble Deep Field: First results

27 Mar 2012

27th March 2012: e-MERLIN's deep radio survey of the Hubble Deep Field: First results

A team of astronomers at Jodrell Bank Observatory have begun the deepest ever high-resolution radio imaging of the region around the Hubble Deep Field (HDF), the images originally captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the mid 1990s. The HDF led to the discovery of numerous galaxies billions of light years distant and provided direct visual evidence of the evolution of the Universe. First results from the new imaging, which uses observations from the UK's newly upgraded e-MERLIN radio telescope array together with the EVLA radio array based in New Mexico, show galaxies some 7 billion light years away in unprecedented detail. Graduate student Nick Wrigley will present the new results at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester on 27 March 2012.

To read the full press release.

e-MERLIN Cycle-0 online simulator tool

12 Jan 2012

12th January 2012: e-MERLIN call for proposals Cycle-0 (semester 2012A)

A new web-based simulator designed to assist in proposal preparation for e-MERLIN, cycle-0 and beyond is now available at http://www.e-merlin.ac.uk/observe/eMERLINost.html

This easy to use simulator tool allows sensitivities, uv-coverages and simulated images to be produced to aid with all forms of e-MERLIN proposals.

e-MERLIN Cycle-0 (semester 12A) proposal submission tool is open

10 Jan 2012

10th January 2012: e-MERLIN call for proposals Cycle-0 (semester 2012A)

The e-MERLIN proposal submission tool Northstar is now open for proposal submissions for Cycle-0

Proposal deadline = Midnight (23:59GMT) 26th January 2012

5 Jan 2012

5th January 2012: A boost for European Radio Astronomy

A boost for European Radio Astronomy

The European astronomy collaboration RadioNet has been granted 9.5 million Euros by the European Commission to fund its latest program, RadioNet3, for the years 2012 to 2015. This not only continues the two preceding European projects, but also takes a leap forward to include ALMA, as well as a number of pathfinder pro grams for the SKA. Read the full press release at the MPIfR site.

10 Jan 2012

10th January 2012: e-MERLIN call for proposals Cycle-0 (semester 2012A)

e-MERLIN announces first open call for proposals

12 Dec 2011

12th December 2011: e-MERLIN call for proposals Cycle-0 (semester 2012A)

e-MERLIN is now open to proposals from the international astronomical community on the basis of scientific merit alone. Proposals are competitively peer-reviewed under standard STFC rules by the PATT e-MERLIN Time allocation Committee. During the first 5 semesters of e-MERLIN operations ~50% of observing time has been allocated to 12 large legacy projects and most of the remaining time will be allocated via PATT to standard proposals solicited prior to each observing semester. e-MERLIN provides high resolution (40-150mas) and high sensitivity (~6-12 uJy in this cycle 0) imaging at cm wavelengths as well as polarimetry, spectroscopy and astrometry. Shared-risk 'Cycle-0' observations will start in February 2012, with some limitations in observing capabilities.

( ..read more..)

Black holes and warped space: New UK telescope shows off first images

9 Dec 2010

9th December 2010: Black holes and warped space: New UK telescope shows off first images

This dramatic image is the first to be produced by e-MERLIN, a powerful new array of radio telescopes linked across the UK.

Spearheaded by the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory and funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the e-MERLIN telescope will allow astronomers to address key questions relating to the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars and planets.

To demonstrate its capabilities, University of Manchester astronomers turned the new telescope array toward the "Double Quasar". This enigmatic object, first discovered by Jodrell Bank, is a famous example of Einstein's theory of gravity in action.

The new image shows how the light from a quasar billions of light years away is bent around a foreground galaxy by the curvature of space. This light has been travelling for 9 billion years before it reached the Earth. The quasar is a galaxy powered by a super-massive black hole, leading to the ejection of jets of matter moving at almost the speed of light - one of which can be seen arcing to the left in this new e-MERLIN image.

( ..read more..)

( ..more images available here..)

This is a composite of the new e-MERLIN radio image of the Double Quasar and an earlier Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical image. One of the le nsed quasar core images is visible at lower right. The radio emission generated by the black hole as seen with e-MERLIN is visible as the compact bright region superimposed on the (yellow-green) optical emission seen by HST. The radio jet, moving at speeds approaching that of light, is see n in the e-MERLIN image arcing away from the black hole towards the upper left. The jet shows several regions of enhanced brightness before it en ds in a hotspot where it is ploughing through the tenuous matter filling the space around the quasar.
The e-MERLIN image is shown in false-colour with a colour table ranging from blue through red to white, where the colours represent the bri ghtness of the radio emission. The HST image is made from WFPC2 images through two filters: the F555W filter (V-band) is coloured green and the F 814W filter (I-band) is coloured red.
Credit: Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester

17th February 2010: MERLIN science press release
A team of astronomers, led by Dr. Wouter Vlemmings at Bonn University, has used the MERLIN radio telescope network centred on the Jodrell Bank Observatory to show that magnetic fields play an important role during the birth of massive stars. Magnetic fields are already known to strongly influence the formation of lower-mass stars like our Sun. This new study reveals that the way in which high-mass and low-mass stars form may be more similar than previously suspected. The scientists report their work in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ( ..read more..)

The gravitational lens system B1608+656 imaged using 3 antennas and a single 128-MHz sub-band of e-MERLIN (approximately 5 hr of data, taken 15th December 2009).
The components are point sources at this resolution; it is not possible to image extended emission correctly with only 3 antennas.
The crosses show that the new data are consistent with the positions of the lensed components taken from MERLIN archive data observed in 1995.
The peak flux density at 4.9 GHz was 39 mJy in 1995 and 25 mJy in 2001, so the present recorded peak of 13 mJy at 6.7 GHz is consistent with a continued decline in flux density.

The e-MERLIN data used to image B1608+656
The calibrated visibility amplitudes and phases are shown in blue. The Fourier transform of the image Clean Components is shown in violet, demonstrating a good fit between data and model.

Data collected at 6.7 GHz on B1608+656 within a week of the e-MERLIN run with the original MERLIN datastream configuration (15 MHz bandwidth per polarization) through the old MERLIN correlator.
The calibrated visibility amplitudes and phases for the hour-angle range observed with e-MERLIN are again shown in blue & the Fourier transform of the image Clean Components shown in violet for the Darnhall-Mk2 baseline (with old MERLIN the baseline is defined in the opposite sense so the phase data are reversed with respect to e-MERLIN). Note that the e-MERLIN data on this baseline have 3 times better signal to noise with just a single sub-band as compared with the old merlin data.

15th December 2009:Over the last few months we have been working on commissioning and debugging the correlator configuration software. Alongside this work we have been retro-fitting updates and developments to the telescope timing and digitisation hardware, and implementing the new e-MERLIN local oscillator systems. We have been testing these updates and developments using 3 e-MERLIN antennas (Mk2, Pickmere, and Darnhall). Last weekend we observed a bright point source calibrator in a single IF containing 1024 frequency channels over a total bandwidth of 128MHz at 6.1984GHz. The data have been exported to the AIPS software analysis suite via FITS IDI and calibrated with standard routines (amplitude, phase and bandpass corrections have been applied). Sample plots of corrected amplitudes and phases on the three baselines between Mk2, Pickmere, and Darnhall are shown below. At present, test observations over 4 adjacent sub-bands are being made with a total bandwidth of 512MHz (over 30 times the bandwidth available for original MERLIN, and a quarter of e-MERLIN's final bandwidth).

Digital signals from a 4th antenna (Knockin) are expected to be correlated before the end of the month. Additional correlator hardware will be added early in 2010 which will permit the addition of the remaining e-MERLIN antennas and the extension of the maximum correlation bandwidth to 2GHz in each hand of polarization as set down in the e-MERLIN specification.

Amplitudes and Phases for a single sub-band of e-MERLIN data (data taken 11th December 2009)
Target source: J2136+006
Pink and turquoise - raw uncalibrated amplitudes and phases respectively
Bright red/green: amplitude and phase with the delay, rate, bandpass, phase and amplitude calibrations applied. Note the scatter on the calibrated data is smaller than the symbol size.

Calibrated Amplitudes and Phases as shown above but rescaled (data taken 11th December 2009).
Target source: J2136+006
Bright red/green: amplitude and phase with the delay, rate, bandpass, phase and amplitude calibrations applied.

24th April 2009: Today e-MERLIN saw first fringes on the 10-km baseline between the Mk2 and Pickmere telescopes (... read more)

20th April 2009: e-MERLIN, a super-powerful new radio telescope network - which will allow astronomers to carry out three years worth of observations in a single day - has received its first signals from space at the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank. (... read more)

2nd April 2009: Scientists at Jodrell Bank are to be at the heart of a global astronomy marathon. 'Around the World in 80 Telescopes' is a 24-hour live video web-cast that will enable star-gazers to see what is happening at observatories around the world. ( ... read more)

13 January 2009: 17 radio telescopes around the world will conduct a nearly continuous 33-hour observation as part of a demonstration at the opening ceremony for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 in Paris 15-16 January. ( ... read more and here) )

Marathon e-VLBI images, educational e-VLBI Web site and Virtual Radio Interferometer now available online. A "movie" of the sequential, automatically-generated images and three hand-crafted images (image 1, image 2, image 3) of the target source J0204+1514, observed during the "marathon" e-VLBI observation 15-16 January, are now available. This observation was demonstrated live during the International Year of Astronomy Opening Ceremony along with an educational web site about e-VLBI and Virtual Radio Interferometer, both of which are also available online.

News and highlights