Affiliation: Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço – RAEGE-Az

Contribution: Poster

Title: The Astronomical Potential of the RAEGE-Az Radio Telescope: Probing AGN nature from variability studies

Abstract: The RAEGE Network (Rede Antlântica de Estações Geodinâmicas e Espaciais), is a joint Spanish-Portuguese infrastructure of geodetic stations. The main goal of the project is the establishment of four stations (two in Spain and two in Azores, Portugal) with VGOS (VLBI Global Observing System) radio telescopes operating in tandem.
Currently, two of these telescopes are already operational: one at the RAEGE-Az station of Santa Maria, Azores (SMA), and another at the Yebes Observatory, in Yebes, Spain. The RAEGE radio telescopes were optimised for geodetic studies using VLBI. Since their means of operation consist of astronomical observations, the telescopes are also capable of high-quality research in radio astronomy. As such, the RAEGE-Az station stands out as a facility within national territory with significant potential for research and education in radio astronomy, with particular relevance to advancing Portugal’s capabilities towards the upcoming Square Kilometre Array era.
Over the past 3 years, under a collaborative agreement between the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences and RAEGE-Az, the use of the telescope for astronomy has been initiated, with initial test observations performed in 2021. In particular, for the past year, a project has been initiated aiming at the implementation of a monitoring program of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). In my poster, I report the first results obtained concerning the tests to the capabilities of the Santa Maria telescope for radio astronomy.

This contribution can be found in the Poster Hall.