KAT-7

KAT-7 is a radio telescope consisting of seven antennas.  The receiver systems are cryogenically cooled to about 70 K (-203 °C) in order to increase the system's sensitivity.


Key performance parameters of KAT-7:
 ParameterValue
Number of Antennas
7
Dish Diameter
12m
Baselines26 m to 185 m (see here)
Frequency Range
1200 MHz - 1950 MHz
Instantaneous Bandwidth256 MHz
PolarisationLinear (H + V)
Tsys< 35 K across the entire frequency band (~30 K average)
for all elevation angles > 30 deg


Correlator Modes:
 Mode # Bands
Band Bandwidth
 Channel Bandwidth
 Available
Wideband 1256 MHz
390.625 kHz *
Yes
 8k Wideband
 1 256 MHz 48.8 kHz **
Yes, but unsupported
HI Galaxy Clusters
 1400/16 = 25 MHz
25/4096 = 6.1 kHz
Yes
HI Galaxies / Maser Search 1400/64 = 6.25 MHz ***
6.25/4096 = 1.525879 kHz
Yes
Maser monitoring 1400/256 = 1.5625 MHz ***
1.5625/4096 = 381.4697 Hz
Yes

* The channel bandwidth is obtained by dividing the IF bandwidth (400 MHz) by the total number of channels (1024).  Note that only 256 MHz of the IF bandwidth is useable.
** The IF bandwidth (400 MHz) is divided by 8192 channels.
*** The useable Band Bandwidth will be slightly less, and will be determined as part of the acceptance testing.


Tied-Array Beamformer Modes (boresight beam only for now):
 Mode # Bands
Band Bandwidth
 Channel Bandwidth
 Available
Wideband 1256 MHz
 390.625 kHz
May 2013


Aerial view of KAT-7:



 Array location
(nominal)
 -30:43:17.34, 21:24:38.46, 1038
(latitude - DD:MM:SS.SS, longitude - DD:MM:SS.SS, altitude above MSL - m) 
 Antenna 125.095, -9.095, 0.045 (East, North, Up in metres, offset from array location)
 Antenna 2 90.284, 26.380, -0.226
 Antenna 3  3.985, 26.893, 0.000
 Antenna 4 -21.605, 25.494, 0.019
 Antenna 5 -38.272, -2.592, 0.391
 Antenna 6 -61.595, -79.699, 0.702
 Antenna 7 -87.988, 75.754, 0.138