2006PASJ...58.1033S

We describe a phase-reference VLBI observation that was conducted at 15.4GHz by fast-switching VLBA antennas between the compact steep-spectrum radio source 3C 138 and the quasar PKS 0528+134, which are about 4° away on the sky. By comparing the phase-reference mapping with the conventional hybrid mapping, we demonstrate the feasibility of high-precision astrometric measurements for sources separated by 4°. VLBI phase-reference mapping preserves the relative phase information, and thus provides an accurate relative position between 3C 138 and PKS 0528+134 of Dα = -9^m46^s.531000 ± 0^s.000003 and Dd = 3°6'26".90311 ± 0".00007 (J2000.0) in right ascension and declination, respectively. This gives an improved position of the nucleus (component A) of 3C 138 in J2000.0 to be RA = 05^h21^m09^s.885748 and Dec = 16°38'22".05261 under the assumption that the position of calibrator PKS 0528+134 is correct. We further made a hybrid map by performing several iterations of CLEAN and self-calibration on the phase-referenced data with the phase-reference map as an input model for the first phase self-calibration. Compared with the hybrid map from the limited visibility data directly obtained from fringe fitting 3C 138 data, this map has a similar dynamic range, but a higher angular resolution. Therefore, the phase-reference technique is not only a means of phase connection, but also a means of increasing the phase coherence time, and thus allowing the self-calibration technique to be applied to much weaker sources.