From theory to practice

Index to South African Periodicals

Date

2012-01-01

Language

English

Media Type

general article

Pages

22-27

Keywords

Cosmology, Telescopes, Wavelengths, Distortions, Interferometry, Astrophysics, SKA, Square Kilometre Array, Fourier transforms, Interference patterns, National Library of South Africa, Very Long Baseline Interferometry, VLBI, YES, NX@, PO Bx 937, Pretoria 0001, docdel@nlsa.ac.za, 2022/03/04, 2022/03/06, Telescope sizes, Aperture sizes, Collecting area sizes, Radio detectors, Radio feeds, Aperture synthesis, Fourier, Joseph, P20042

Author(s)

Smirnov, O.

Publication Title

Quest

Volume

8

Description

Discusses the functioning of radio telescopes, noting that aperture size of the collecting area is the main factor that determine resolution and the surface area determines sensitivity wile speed is also very important. Looks at interferometry as a way to improve resolution and the development of aperture synthesis by Sir Martin Ryle and his group at Cambridge University in 1950. Informs about the use of the Fourier transform in the process, developed by French mathematician Joseph Fourier in the 19th century. Reports that by spreading an array of radio dishes over a large area and combining their signals in the correlator, a virtual telescope with 'synthetic aperture' that can easily be made thousands of miles across, incredibly high resolutions can be achieved. Informs about the groundbreaking innovations of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) which has a square kilometre of total collecting area which will fill a synthetic aperture almost immediately. Illustrates with photographs and graphs.

Subject

TECHNOLOGY, PHYSICS, TELECOMMUNICATION, RADIO, ASTRONOMY