NAOJ Mizusawa

On 27 March 2020, we announced that the budget of the Mizusawa VLBI Observatory for FY 2020 was significantly reduced, and that operation of three VERA stations would be terminated at the end of the current observing season, June 2020 (Announcement on the termination of VERA project ahead of schedule and prospects for future operation of VERA stations). Now the NAOJ executive has decided to allocate an extra budget to the Mizusawa VLBI Observatory through its Leadership Program, and here we inform you that the operation of the VERA array will be continued during this year.

With this budget allocation, we will be able to operate all the four VERA stations until the end of FY 2020 (the end of March 2021). We will also continue our contribution to the KVN and VERA Array (KaVA) and the East Asian VLBI Network (EAVN) with the full array of VERA, as was the last year.

Regarding the operation in FY 2021 and later, we still seek possibilities of continuing observations with all the four stations. We apologize for causing concern in the radio astronomy community. We would like to make every effort to continue the full-array operation in the long term, and we would greatly appreciate your continued understanding and support.

Since the announcement of the budget cut in March 2020 and the suspension of three VERA stations, we have received many words of encouragements as well as valuable donations to support the continuation of operation. We would like to thank all the people who has been supporting the activities of Mizusawa VLBI Observatory in various ways.