Introduction

The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is a collection of ten, nearly identical, radio telescopes at locations across the continental United States, Saint Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands), and Mauna Kea, Hawai'i. The distance between antennas vary up to roughly 6000 miles. The resolving power of the VLBA is up to 50 micro-arcseconds, or roughly equivalent to the resolving power of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The VLBA antennas are located at:

• Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
• Hancock, New Hampshire
• North Liberty, Iowa
• Fort Davis, Texas
• Los Alamos, New Mexico
• Pie Town, New Mexico
• Kitt Peak, Arizona
• Owens Valley, California
• Brewster, Washington
• Mauna Kea, Hawai'i

This introduction begins the journey of the radio signal from the source in the sky, through the VLBA system, and to output media for the astronomer.