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Snapshot Mode

The VLBA ``snapshot'' coverage will be augmented to produce better images of transient galactic sources that can vary significantly in structure and amplitude on times scales of a few hours.

The VLBA configuration is fairly sparse and now relies on rotational synthesis over several hours to obtain good image quality. The use of the proposed A+ configuration antennas as VLBA elements would significantly improve the ``instantaneous'' image quality. This can be critical to studies of the time development and evolution of active galactic objects with relativistic jets, for which high angular resolution imaging is appropriate but ``superluminal'' features may move by many beamwidths per day.



Michael Rupen
Fri Mar 26 15:30:00 MST 1999