6.4 Radio Telescopes

Radio telescopes

• Large concave metal dishes that reflect radio waves to a focus where the detectors then analyse it 

Detection of Radio Waves

•  Antennas (metal conductors) pick up radio waves, inducing tiny currents that are amplified by receivers. 

• Use advanced receivers that split signals into thousands of frequency bands, much like a spectrometer

Radio Interferometry

 the process of linking two or more radio telescopes together to sharpen their images

• Very weak resolutions otherwise

• Resolution is dependent on the distance,bigger the distance sharper the resolution 

Interferences

• Technical term for the way that multiple waves inteact with each other when they arrive in an instrument 

Interferometer Array

• Multiple radio dishes that help produce better resolution 

  • All observer the same part of the sky 

  • Using data collected from the dishes that are very far apart and combining them later to produce resolutions that surpass visible light telescopes 

Radar Astronomy

technique of transmitting radio waves to an object in our solar system and then detecting the radio radiation that the object reflects back

• Use: Distances of planets and speed of moving celestial objects

• Radio dishes equipped with powerful transmitters as well as receivers