Interferometry of Cyg A and Cas A - Source noise at 327 MHz

Interferometric observations of Cyg A and Cas A at 327 MHz confirm predictions for the characteristics of noise in synthesis images of very bright sources. On a single baseline, the noise variances of the real and imaginary components of the complex visibility are not equal. The noise in an image is larger for positions on-source than off-source. The on-source noise is scattered into the off-source region by the sidelobes of the synthesized beam. Part of this contribution to the off-source noise can be removed by judicious deconvolution.