Ground control to major Tom
The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT for short), is a radio telescope consisting of fourteen separate parabolic antennas in the forests near Hooghalen and Westerbork in Drenthe. The WSRT was commissioned in 1970 and is still used for astronomical observations.
The fourteen pieces of 25m diabolic reflector antennas are arranged in an east-west direction over a length of 2.8 kilometers, with a mutual distance of 144m. By means of the radio synthesis technique, a telescope with a distance of 2.8 kilometers (diameter) can be simulated in this way (aperture synthesis). Ten antennas have a fixed position, two on a rail of 300 m and two on a rail of 200 m, over which these four can be driven (the rail is flat from above, of a crane track). The telescopes are in an equatorial arrangement: one of the rotating axes points to the North Star. As a result, the x-y polarisation is stopped relative to the radio source during the 12-hour measurement. The first two radio telescopes are equipped with the Multi Frequency Front End (1998), which is cryogenically cooled and has 6 frequency bands (different feeds). These are used for Very Long Baseline Interferrometry (collaboration with other telescopes and a satellite), making it part of the European VLBI network, testing and Galileo (European GPS) calibration measurements. The MFFE’s have different receivers that are sensitive to radio radiation between 350 MHz and 8.3 GHz (wavelengths between 92 cm and 3.6 cm).
Apertif was opened on 13 September 2018. Apertif is built in the other 12 RTs, and consists of PhasedArrayFeed (PAF) antennas, each frontend consists of 121 dipoles with which 37 bundles can be made electronically, for a quick sky survey.
In addition to Apertif, a set-up of 40 super-fast servers is connected: ARTS. This instrument continuously records the sky signals in many bands. In the case of a rapid gamma burst (Gamma Ray Burst), the radiation characteristics for the largest burst are included.
The WSRT is managed by the ASTRON, in Dwingeloo.
..--- ----. ----. / --... ----. ..--- / ....- ..... ---..
Ground control to major Tom
The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT for short), is a radio telescope consisting of fourteen separate parabolic antennas in the forests near Hooghalen and Westerbork in Drenthe. The WSRT was commissioned in 1970 and is still used for astronomical observations.
The fourteen pieces of 25m diabolic reflector antennas are arranged in an east-west direction over a length of 2.8 kilometers, with a mutual distance of 144m. By means of the radio synthesis technique, a telescope with a distance of 2.8 kilometers (diameter) can be simulated in this way (aperture synthesis). Ten antennas have a fixed position, two on a rail of 300 m and two on a rail of 200 m, over which these four can be driven (the rail is flat from above, of a crane track). The telescopes are in an equatorial arrangement: one of the rotating axes points to the North Star. As a result, the x-y polarisation is stopped relative to the radio source during the 12-hour measurement. The first two radio telescopes are equipped with the Multi Frequency Front End (1998), which is cryogenically cooled and has 6 frequency bands (different feeds). These are used for Very Long Baseline Interferrometry (collaboration with other telescopes and a satellite), making it part of the European VLBI network, testing and Galileo (European GPS) calibration measurements. The MFFE’s have different receivers that are sensitive to radio radiation between 350 MHz and 8.3 GHz (wavelengths between 92 cm and 3.6 cm).
Apertif was opened on 13 September 2018. Apertif is built in the other 12 RTs, and consists of PhasedArrayFeed (PAF) antennas, each frontend consists of 121 dipoles with which 37 bundles can be made electronically, for a quick sky survey.
In addition to Apertif, a set-up of 40 super-fast servers is connected: ARTS. This instrument continuously records the sky signals in many bands. In the case of a rapid gamma burst (Gamma Ray Burst), the radiation characteristics for the largest burst are included.
The WSRT is managed by the ASTRON, in Dwingeloo.
..--- ----. ----. / --... ----. ..--- / ....- ..... ---..