Oral Presentation

An overview of the Thai National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Potential collaborations with the BURSTT project

Author(s): N. Sakai, K. Sugiyama, P. Jaroenjittichai, A. Leckngam, W. Rujopakarn, B. Soonthornthum, S. Poshyachinda (NARIT), B. H. Kramer (MPIfR / NARIT), and international collaborators (IGN; MPIfR; SHAO; ITB; Univeisiti Malaya; VAST; IAAI / KMITL)

Presenter: Nobuyuki Sakai (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand)

National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT; Public Organization) launched the Thai National Radio Astronomy Observatory (TNRO) project in 2017. The project's goal is the“capacity building”through radio astronomy and geodesy. TNRO operates 40-m Thai National Radio Telescope (TNRT) with a frequency coverage of 0.3 – 115 GHz in Chiangmai. TNRT L and K band receivers have been developed by Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR). A 13-m VGOS telescope is under commissioning in the same site of TNRT by collaborating with Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO). TNRO will operate another VGOS telescope in Songkhla that is 1,300 km south from the TNRT site. A wide band receiver (2–14 GHz) has been developed by Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) Yebes Observatory for the Songkhla telescope. TNRO collaborates with King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) to convert 30-m-class telecommunication antennas for radio astronomy, which allows us to establish Thai National VLBI Array (TVA). To further expand the VLBI network to Southeast Asia, TNRO collaborates with researchers in Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Universiti Malaya and Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).

In this invited talk, I will introduce science cases of the TNRO and discuss potential collaborations (e.g., VLBI localization) with the Bustling Universe Radio Survey Telescope in Taiwan (BURSTT) with the conference participants.