PASS
Planetarium Activities for Student Success
News and Articles on Colors
From Space (PASS Volume 8)
From Sky & Telescope Magazine Online...
Friday, April 14
Radio Telescope Reaches
Construction Milestone
Left:
Standing 148 meters (485 feet) tall, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia is
nearly finished. Courtesy NRAO/NSF. Click on image for larger view.
The world's
largest fully steerable radio telescope is nearing completion. On April 12th, astronomers
at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in West Virginia, announced that
the final segment of the 100-by-110-meter dish had been fitted to the Green Bank Telescope
(GBT). Weighing more than 7,000 metric tons, the telescope features two novel aspects
that will enhance its collection of radio waves from the distant cosmos. First, the
telescope's receivers are off to one side, not hanging directly over the dish. This
will allow the telescope to collect faint signals from space without its supports
causing interference. Second, actuators on each of the dish's more than 2,000 panels
will maintain a paraboloidal shape no matter what direction the telescope is pointing.
The GBT, built to replace the 91-meter dish that collapsed in November 1988, is expected
to be fully operational by early 2001.
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