An approach to interferometric mosaicing

¹ Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, P.O. Box 76, Epping, N.S.W. 2121, Australia
² Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands

Send offprint request to: R.J. Sault

Received: 2 October 1995
Accepted: 19 April 1996

Abstract

In radio astronomy, mosaicing is the practice of combining multiple pointings of a telescope to produce an image significantly larger than the telescope's primary beam. We consider an approach to imaging and deconvolving interferometric mosaic observations. This approach directly deconvolves a linear mosaic of dirty images. We consider the advantages and limitations of this technique. Projection issues for mosaicing are also discussed. We present an example from a 320-pointing, spectral-line, mosaiced observation of the Small Magellanic Cloud.