What Are the Parts of a Radio Telescope?
large radio-telescope in katsively, crimea image by Oleg Mitiukhin from Fotolia.com jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(‘#jsArticleStep1 span.image a:first’).attr(‘href’,’http://i.ehow.com/images/a05/rg/ql/parts-radio-telescope_-1.1-800X800.jpg’); }); Radio telescopes vary widely in size and function. Visible light is electromagnetic (EM) radiation of wavelengths between 390 and 750 nanometers, while radio telescopes can study EM radiation between 10 m to 1 mm, a range several orders of magnitude larger. In other words, by using radio waves instead of optical waves, radio astronomers can see cosmic phenomena that are otherwise invisible, vastly increasing our understanding of the universe. While radio telescopes vary greatly in size and function, they all have five basic components: a dish, antenna, receiver, detector and recorder. Dish and Antenna The area of the dish and the efficiency of the antenna have a direct bearing on the telescope’s sensitivity; that is its ability to e
