e-VLBI... a Wide-field Imaging Instrument with Milliarcsecond Resolution & microJy Sensitivity

The European VLBI Network (EVN) is in the process of establishing an e-VLBI array in which the radio telescopes and the EVN correlator at JIVE are connected in real-time, via high-speed national fibre optic networks and the pan-European research network, GÉANT. This paper reports on recent test results, including the production of the first real-time e-VLBI astronomical image. In a parallel and related development, the field-of-view of VLBI is also expanding by many orders of magnitude, and the first results of deep, wide-field surveys capable of detecting many sources simultaneously are summarised. The detection of sources as faint as 10 microJy should soon be possible in the era of “Mk5” and e-VLBI.