Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory


The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory began operating in 1960 at White Lake near Penticton, The creation of the dominion was by Carlyle Smith Beals is an astronomer who wanted to advance the field of astrophysics in Canada.

In 1962, a second radio telescope was put in place. Fully operational in 1964

the radio telescope was primarily used between 1965 and 1969 during a period when solar spots were at minumum .

In 1968, the 25.6-metre radio telescope at Penticton it was the first successful long distance interferometry experiment ever conducted. Today, the synthesis array radio telescope has seven 8.5-metre parabolic antennas that operate continuously 24/7.

The telescope was mainly used in the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey, there goal was to map a large part of the milky way.

They also did a task of gathering data on the Sun’s radio flux, variations in its energy output at radio wavelengths it was transferred to the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory at Penticton. The observatory is now under responsibility of the national research council of Canada’s herzberg institute of astrophysics.
astro-canada.ca/_photos/a2107_drao26m2_g.jpg

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