Does everyone understand what Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is?
It has something to do with very large slide-rules from what I understand.
I know what VLBI is, but I'm sure not everyone does. :-)
VLBI is a technique used by astronomers to electronically link separated radio telescopes together, so they
work together, as single instrument with
high resolving power. It could help us see more patterns,
that would help map the spatial universe.
Sure.
VLBI is a geometric technique: it measures the time difference between the arrival at two Earth-based antennas of a radio wavefront emitted by a distant quasar. Using large numbers of time difference measurements from many quasars observed with a global network of antennas, VLBI determines the inertial reference frame defined by the quasars and simultaneously the precise positions of the antennas. Because the time difference measurements are precise to a few picoseconds, VLBI determines the relative positions of the antennas to a few millimeters and the quasar positions to fractions of a milliarcsecond. Since the antennas are fixed to the Earth, their locations track the instantaneous orientation of the Earth in the inertial reference frame. Relative changes in the antenna locations from a series of measurements indicate tectonic plate motion, regional deformation, and local uplift or subsidence.
http://lupus.gsfc.nasa.gov/brochure/bintro.html
You want that in English? With fries and a Coke?