Mell What can radio telescopes detect?
Radio telescope, astronomical instrument consisting of a radio receiver and an antenna system that is used to detect radio-frequency radiation between wavelengths of about 10 metres (30 megahertz [MHz]) and 1 mm (300 gigahertz [GHz]) emitted by extraterrestrial sources, such as stars, galaxies, and quasars.
What new types of objects have been detected by radio telescopes?
Radio astronomy has detected many new types of objects. These include pulsars, rapidly spinning neutron stars that are collapsed cores of massive stars that have exhausted their fuel. Pulsars beam intense radio beams of radio waves out into space much like the beam from a lighthouse as it rotates.
What kind of telescope is used for radio astronomy?
This modern type of telescope where several dishes operate together is called an interferometer. Radio interferometers allow astronomers to study objects in finer detail than is possible using a single dish. The larger the total collecting area, the fainter the radio signals that can be detected.
What kind of telescopes are used to detect pulsars?
Even though pulsars were first discovered as radio sources they have now been observed using optical, X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes. Jocelyn Bell and the telescope in Cambridge, England, used to discover pulsars. Pulsar astronomers have now detected over 1500 pulsars and expect to discover thousands more during the next few years.
What kind of antenna is used for radio astronomy?
A Yagi antenna, similar to that used for TV reception, can be used for radio astronomy as was the case in the early Dover Heights telescopes. A receiver and amplifier to boost the very weak radio signal to a measurable level.
What kind of recorder is used for radio astronomy?
A recorder to keep a record of the signal. In the early days of radio astronomy this was normally a chart recorder that drew a graph on paper in ink. Most radio telescopes nowadays record directly to some form of computer memory disk as astronomers use sophisticated software to process and analyse the data.