Configurations of the six antennas array

The six antennas can be arranged in four primary configurations. The current configurations for the winter period are:

Conf	Stations
D	W05	W00	E03	N05	N09	N13
C	W12	E10	E16	N02	N09	N20
B	W12	E04	E23	N07	N17	N29
A	W27	W23	E16	E23	N13	N29

• D alone is best suited for deep integration and coarse mapping experiments. This configuration provides both the highest sensitivity and the lowest atmospheric phase noise. It is slightly more extended than the 5-element D configuration: the beam is smaller ($\sim\!5''$ at 100 GHz and $\delta=45\hbox{$^\circ$}$), but slightly more elliptical.
• C provides a fairly complete coverage of the uv-plane (low sidelobe level) and is well adapted to combine with D for low angular resolution studies ($\sim$3.5$''$ at 100GHz, $\sim$1.5$''$ at 230GHz) and with B for higher resolution ($\sim$2$''$ at 100GHz, $\sim$0.9$''$ at 230GHz). C alone is also well suited for snapshot and size measurement experiments.
• B in combination with A already provides slightly higher angular resolution ($\sim$1.5$''$ at 100GHz). Short baselines have been included to facilitate calibration and give some sensitivity to extended structure, although this is clearly not the primary goal of the AB configuration. It is mainly used for relatively strong sources.
• A alone is well suited for mapping or size measurements of very compact objects. It provides a resolution of $1.1''$ at 100GHz, $\sim$0.5$''$ at 230GHz. In addition, because it contains long, intermediate and some short baselines, it could still be used in a tapered mode when a project is observed in marginal weather conditions despite some loss of sensitivity (for backup projects).

The four array configurations can be used in different combinations to improve on angular resolution and sensitivity. Mosaicing is usually done with D or CD, but the combination BCD can also be requested for high resolution mosaics. Enter ANY in the proposal form if the scientific goals can be reached with any of the four configurations or their subsets.

Please consult the documentation on the Plateau de Bure configurations for further details.