VERA Ishigaki-jima Station – the 20-m Radio Telescope and the Constellation Ophiuchus
Night Scape Photograph・
| Date | 10:09 pm July 07, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Camera | Nikon D800E |
| Lens | Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED |
| Exposure | F2.8 ISO-3200, 20 seconds |
| Location | VERA Ishigaki-jima Station, Ishigaki Okinawa |
| Photographer | Makoto Shizugami (NAOJ Mizusawa VLBI Observatory) |
| Image Processing | Makoto Shizugami (NAOJ Mizusawa VLBI Observatory) |
| Copyright | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan |
This picture includes the 20-m radio telescope at VERA Ishigaki-jima Station in Ishigaki Okinawa and the southwestern sky during the summer of 2014. The constellation Ophiuchus and the ascending Milky Way can be seen.
As part of the VERA project to create a precise map of the Milky Way Galaxy’s structure, 20 meter diameter radio telescopes have been established at 4 locations across Japan. They conduct observations night and day.
VERA Ishigaki-jima Station, one of those four, is installed in Nagura at the foot of Ishigaki-jima’s Omoto Dake. Together the VERA Ishigaki-jima Station and the VERA Mizusawa station form the longest baseline: 2300 kilometers. This station is indispensable for the high precision survey of astronomical object locations.
In 2008, VERA precisely measured the distance to ρ Oph East, which can be seen in this picture in the lower part of Ophiuchus to the left of the telescope’s secondary mirror. It found that the distance was 580 light-years.
(Author: Makoto Shizugami, NAOJ Mizusawa VLBI Observatory)