http://www.skypub.com/news/news.shtml
RADIO TELESCOPE REACHES CONSTRUCTION MILESTONE
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). Standing 148 meters tall and 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.
The GBT Web site URL:
http://www.gb.nrao.edu/GBT/GBT.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Mar 28 2001 - 16:07:53 PST