What have radio astronomers discovered?
Among many significant discoveries, radio telescopes allowed astronomers to understand the phenomena occurring near the surface of the sun. Solar flares are strong sources of radio emission; some are potentially dangerous and can interrupt radio communications on Earth, endanger sensitive equipment in satellites and even the health of astronauts. Radio telescopes are used to measure the surface temperatures of all the planets in our solar system, as well as some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Also, radio telescopes gave some of the first hints for the presence of so called “dark matter”.
