We have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for an international VLBI network that will combine approximately 20 radio telescopes in the East Asian region in Japan, South Korea, and China to achieve resolution equivalent to a giant radio telescope with a maximum diameter of 5,500 km.
The signing took place at the 11th East Asia VLBI Workshop held in Pyeongchang, South Korea on September 6th, between the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (Director: Saku Tsuneta, Acting Director: Hideyuki Kobayashi), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of China (Director: Shen Ziqiang), Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory of China (Director: Wang Na), and Korea Astronomical Research Institute (Director: Lee Hyun-mok).
There are VLBI networks in East Asia: Japan's VERA and JVN, South Korea's KVN, and China's CVN, and until now each has been operated separately within the country. However, by cooperating across borders and integrating them into one huge international network, we can demonstrate even more powerful performance. This project is called the East Asian VLBI Network (commonly known as EAVN), and the Mizusawa VLBI Observatory has been playing a central role in Japan since 2008, having held discussions and conducted test observations with various countries. Operation of the Japan-Korea joint observation network began in 2014, and with this research cooperation agreement, the Japan-Korea-China joint observation network, which has also integrated the China station, will finally get underway.
"With the start of operation of EAVN, we will have one of the best observation networks in the world. I hope that in the future, EAVN will be used to produce interesting research results on things such as black holes, and I also hope that international cooperation in astronomy will advance with a focus on the Asian region." (Mizusawa VLBI Observatory Director Kiki Homma)
From this month, observation by a total of 10 stations including 4 VERA stations, 3 KVN stations, Nobeyama, Shanghai, and Urumqi will begin, with the aim of elucidating the birth sites of stars and the structure around black holes, and we plan to further expand the network in the future.
Written by: Kazuhiro Hada (Assistant Professor, Mizusawa VLBI Observatory)
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