explain how a radio telescope works.?

Question

what is the advantage of a radio telescope over a standard optical telescope.
what is its disadvantage?

Answer 1

A radio telescope is a form of radio receiver used in astronomy. In contrast to an "ordinary" telescope, which receives visible light, a radio telescope "sees" radio waves emitted by radio sources, typically by means of a large parabolic ("dish") antenna, or arrays of them. The first of these was the 9m telescope constructed by Grote Reber in 1937. In the early 1950s the Cambridge Interferometer mapped the radio sky to produce the famous 2C and 3C surveys of radio sources. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world was the 76 metre telescope at Jodrell Bank, which became operational in 1957. This was just the latest of many radio telescopes constructed during the middle of the 20th century, and has been surpassed by more modern telescopes and arrays of telescopes.

The largest individual radio telescope is the RATAN-600 (Russia) with 576 meter diameter of circular antenna (RATAN-600 description). The largest radio telescope in Europe is the 100 meter diameter antenna in Effelsberg, Germany, which also was the largest fully steerable telecope for 30 years until the Green Bank Telescope was opened in 2000. The largest radio telescope in the United States until 1998 was Ohio State University's The Big Ear. Other well known disk radio telescopes include the Arecibo radio telescope located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, which is steerable within about 20° of the zenith, and the fully steerable Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank in the United Kingdom . A typical size of the single antenna of a radio telescope is 25 metre, dozens of radio telescopes with comparable sizes are operated in radio observatories all over the world.

An example of the array-type radio telescope is the Very Large Array (VLA), in Socorro, New Mexico, which is an interferometric array formed from 27 individual antennas. The largest exisiting radio telescope array is the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, located in Pune, India. A larger array, LOFAR (the 'LOw Frequency ARray') is currently being constructed in western Europe, consisting of 25000 small antennas over an area of several 100s of kilometres in diameter.

The sub-field of astronomy related to observations made through radio telescopes is known as radio astronomy.

Many celestial objects, such as pulsars or active galaxies (like quasars), produce radio-frequency radiation and so are best "visible" or even only visible in the radio region of electromagnetic spectrum. By examining the frequency, power and timing of radio emissions from these objects, astronomers can improve our understanding of the Universe.

Radio telescopes are also the primary means to track space probes (see Deep Space Network), and are used in the SETI project.

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Beginnings
Nikola Tesla in the Colorado Springs lab recorded cosmic waves emitting from interstellar clouds and red giant stars. He observed repeating signals conducted by his transceiver. He announced that he received extraterrestrial radio signals. Tesla stated that he received signals from planets in some of the scientific journals of the time. The scientific community did not believe him, primarily because research of cosmic signals did not exist (what is known today as radio astronomy), and the community of science rejected Tesla's data. Tesla spent the latter part of his life trying to signal Mars.

One of the earliest modern investigations into extraterrestrial sources of radio waves were by Karl Guthe Jansky, an engineer with Bell Telephone Laboratories, in the early 1930s. The first object actually detected was the center of the Milky Way, followed by the sun. Grote Reber (December 22, 1911 – December 20, 2002) was one of the pioneers of radio astronomy. He was instrumental in repeating Karl Guthe Jansky's pioneering but somewhat simple work, and conducted the first sky survey in the radio frequencies. After World War II, substantial improvements in radio astronomy technology were made by astronomers in Europe, Australia and the United States, and the field of radio astronomy began to blossom.

One of the most notable developments came in 1946 with the introduction of radio interferometry (see, for example, Nature 158 pp 339 1946) by Martin Ryle's group in Cambridge (who obtained a nobel prize for this and later aperture synthesis work), also the Lloyd's mirror interferometer developed independently in 1946 by Joseph Pawsey's group at the University of Sydney (see Nature 157 pp 158 1946).

Answer 2

The advantage is that there is a wide array of electromagnetic spectrum that is not obscured by the stuff which obscures visible light--our optical telescope range. Radio waves tell us things, like processes at play, about what emits them that can be broader than studying the visible spectrum. The main disadvantage is that we kind of like to see stuff and it somehow doesn't seem to be comprehendable unless we do--radio telescopes don't give us that kind of picture--directly. We sometimes get indications from radio telescopes of a great and perhaps sudden source of energy, then we call the optical astronomers to look for something somewhere. We find stars, such as pulsars, by radio telescope, rhythmically emitting stars which have an exceptionally hot spot and rapidly rotate, like a search light that periodically sweeps our way, often numerous times a second, which considering the mass of stars is an awesome prospect. Some of those pulsars can scarsely be seen by our optical astronomers, but to radio astronomers they are as obvious as a wart on your nose. That is just one little example out of many.

Answer 3

It receives radiation in a different part of the spectrum -
longer waves than visible light - radio waves. All matter gives off radiowaves. Visible light telescopes can be used without interpretation - seeing is very immediate.
Radio telescopes allow dark objects to be located, and allow seeing farther back in time. Even diffuse gasses have a radio signature.

Answer 4

If you know about light waves, you know that the entire spectrum of waves is much more than visible light. So, how would you 'see' waves of energy that are outside of the visible spectrum?

whispers... answer radio telescope

With a radio telescope a wide range of frequencies that are given off from stars, nebula, etc can be captured and then modified into a visible picture.

Answer 5

A radio telescope is a form of radio receiver used in astronomy. In contrast to an "ordinary" telescope, which receives visible light, a radio telescope "sees" radio waves emitted by radio sources (stars), typically by means of a large parabolic ("dish") antenna, or arrays of them.

Many celestial objects, such as pulsars or active galaxies (like quasars), produce radio-frequency radiation and so are best "visible" or even only visible in the radio region of electromagnetic spectrum. By examining the frequency, power and timing of radio emissions from these objects, astronomers can improve our understanding of the Universe.

(for more, see source)

Answer 6

How Radio Telescope Works

Answer 7

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