Very-long-baseline Interferometry - Scientific Results

Scientific Results

Some of the scientific results derived from VLBI include:

  • Imaging particle emissions from distant sources. (See quasar, blazar)
  • Imaging the surfaces of nearby stars at radio wavelengths (see also interferometry) – similar techniques have also been used to make infrared and optical images of stellar surfaces
  • Definition of the celestial reference frame
  • Motion of the Earth's tectonic plates
  • Regional deformation and local uplift or subsidence.
  • Variations in the Earth's orientation and length of day.
  • Maintenance of the terrestrial reference frame
  • Measurement of gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon on the Earth and the deep structure of the Earth
  • Improvement of atmospheric models
  • Measurement of the fundamental speed of gravity
  • The tracking of the Huygens probe as it passed through Titan's atmosphere, allowing wind velocity measurements

Read more about this topic:  Very-long-baseline Interferometry

Famous quotes containing the words scientific and/or results:

    “In the domain of Political Economy, free scientific inquiry meets not merely the same enemies as in all other domains. The peculiar nature of the material it deals with, summons as foes into the field of battle the most violent, mean and malignant passions of the human breast, the Furies of private interest.”
    —Karl Marx (1818–1883)

    “It is perhaps the principal admirableness of the Gothic schools of architecture, that they receive the results of the labour of inferior minds; and out of fragments full of imperfection ... raise up a stately and unaccusable whole.”
    —John Ruskin (1819–1900)