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What is Meant by “Time on Source”?

-- | March 14, 2017

Question: what is the meaning of “Time on source”?  I noticed that lower RMS noise  demands  longer “Time on source”.  I would appreciate getting explanation about the connection between them.  — Daniel

Answer: The time on source is the amount of time that one spends integrating the signal from a particular direction in space.  As one accumulates on-source measurements, the root-mean-square noise of those measurements goes down.  If the individual measurements are independent, then that noise decreases by the square-root of the amount of time spent integrating on-source.

Jeff Mangum