National Radio Astronomy Observatory
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO), federal observatory for radio astronomyradio astronomy,study of celestial bodies by means of the electromagnetic radio frequency waves they emit and absorb naturally. Radio Telescopes
Radio waves emanating from celestial bodies are received by specially constructed antennas, called radio telescopes,
..... Click the link for more information. , founded in 1956 and operated under contract with the National Science Foundation by Associated Universities, Inc., a group of major universities. The headquarters are at Charlottesville, Va.; the original observatory site is in Greenbank, W.Va., where the antennas, or radio telescopes, include a fully steerable 328-ft (100-m) off-axis paraboloid with an adjustable surface, the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope; a fully steerable 140-ft (43-m) paraboloid; an interferometer consisting of three steerable 85-ft (26-m) paraboloids; and other radio telescopes. At Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Ariz., NRAO has a 36-ft (11-m) steerable paraboloid; near Socorro, New Mexico, the NRAO's Very Large Array (VLA) consists of 27 parabolic dishes, each 82 ft (25 m) in diameter, mounted on a Y-shaped track with arms up to 14 mi (21 km) long. Finally, the observatory operates the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) consisting of ten radio telescopes placed around the earth that operate in unison. The antenna sites are located in New Hampshire, Iowa, Saint Croix, Texas, New Mexico (two antennas), Arizona, California, Washington, and Hawaii; the headquarters is located at Socorro. The NRAO also is the lead North American partner in the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile (see European Southern ObservatoryEuropean Southern Observatory
(ESO), an intergovernmental organization for astronomical research with headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. The ESO began in 1962 as a consortium among Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Principal research programs of the NRAO include the study of galactic structure, extragalactic radio sources, molecules in space, pulsars, quasars, and the evolution of stars and galaxies. Astronomers using the VLA have discovered filaments, jets, and high-temperature features in the center of our own galaxy and in extragalactic radio sources that may help explain the high energy of quasars. The system allows the study of the nuclei of active galaxies and helps determine distances to radio sources more accurately.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO) The US radio observatory administered from Charlottesville, Virginia, with various field stations. It is managed by a private consortium of universities in a cooperative agreement with the US government's National Science Foundation. Their principal instruments are the Green Bank Telescope, the VLA, the VLBA, and a millimeter-wavelength radio telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona.National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(in Russian, Green Bank Radio Astronomy Observatory), a scientific research institution in Green Bank, W. Va., founded in the 1950’s. Its principal instruments are an 85-ft radio telescope with a parabolic antenna on an azimuthal mounting (installed in 1959), a 140-ft radio telescope on an equatorial mounting (1962), and a 300-ft radio telescope on a meridional mounting (movement is only in the plane of the meridian; early 1960’s). The National Radio Astronomy Observatory conducts research on discrete radio sources, including the study of their fine structure; on the gaseous components of star systems, especially our galaxy (neutral and ionized hydrogen); and other topics. The observatory has a small staff of permanent scientific personnel and is run by a board of trustees consisting of representatives of nine American universities. Astronomers from other American and foreign observatories also work at the observatory.
REFERENCES
Teleskopy. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from English.)Smith, F. G. Radio Astronomy. Baltimore, Md., 1961.