Long Baseline Interferemetry of Jovian Decametric Radio Bursts

Abstract

DURING the 1962 opposition of Jupiter we made some exploratory observations with a long baseline interferometer in an attempt to obtain information on the sizes and distribution of the decametric burst sources. The observations were made at 19.7 Mc/s with a north–south baseline of 32.3 km, equivalent to 1940 λ at tho declination of the planet. They have shown that successful interferometry is possible at these large distances in spite of complications due to ionospheric irregularities. The angular diameter of a burst source was found to be less than a third of the planet's diameter, and all bursts contributing to a noise storm originated in a single area less than a half of the size of the planet's disk.