The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, a Second Lease on Life

Abstract

The scientific impact of a synthesis telescope array, is determined by a wide range of parameters. The pressure to observe with the array will therefore depend on these same parameters. What then are the most relevant parameters for radio synthesis arrays? For the common user the most important appear to be: the (maximum) angular resolution, the line and continuum sensitivity and the frequency range covered by the available receivers. For spectral line work, which traditionally has been very popular in the Dutch community, the backend capabilities are equally, if not more, important. They set the maximum bandwidth and the number of spectral line channels. Somewhat less important aspects, to the average user, are sky coverage, imaging speed, dynamic range and polarization purity. These are often important only for the specialized user or for very demanding applications. And last, but not least, wre should not forget the software that is required to process the data; there is no synthesis without (sophisticated) software.