The BIMA array's history dates back to the 1970's, when it consisted of just three antennas. Three new dishes were added in 1993, bringing the total then to six. Currently, eight dishes are operational.
Plans call for an expansion to ten operational dishes within about a year.
The Dishes When using an array, radio astronomers often want to employ as many dishes in as possible. The greater the number of dishes, the better an array can emulate a larger single dish telescope. That's because more dishes translates into more baselines that can be observed simultaneously. The more baselines, the more complete the resulting data. Adding the extra dishes will also increase the BIMA array's sensitivity , thereby allowing it to detect further or fainter objects .