Sardinia Radio Telescope

The Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) is a big telescope used to study space. It is located near San Basilio in the Province of Cagliari on the island of Sardinia, Italy. This telescope was finished in 2011 after many years of work.

The SRT is very special because it is 64 meters tall and can move to look at different objects in the sky. It was built by a team from three places: the Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna, the Cagliari Observatory in Cagliari, and the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory in Florence.

This telescope helps scientists learn more about stars, planets, and other objects far away in space. By studying radio waves from space, scientists can find new things about the universe. The Sardinia Radio Telescope is an important tool for exploring space.

Design

The Sardinia Radio Telescope is in Sardinia, about 35 kilometers north of the city of Cagliari. It is the largest of three telescopes operated by INAF, along with telescopes at the Medicina Radio Observatory and the Noto Radio Observatory. This telescope can work alone or join with telescopes around the world.

It has a large round surface that is 64 meters across, made of 1,008 aluminum panels. The telescope can move in any direction. Its structure weighs around 3,300 tonnes. Over time, new parts have been added to let it pick up more kinds of radio signals from space.

Collaboration, construction and commissioning

The Sardinia Radio Telescope was built by many research groups. They worked together with the National Institute for Astrophysics. The groups include the Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna, the Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, and the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri. Money came from the Italian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, the Sardinia Regional Government, the Italian Space Agency, and INAF. Building the telescope cost about €70 million.

Work began in 2003 and the base was finished by 2004. They planned to finish by 2006, but it was not done until 2012. A company from Germany built the telescope. The first test was on August 8, 2012. They looked at the Moon and a star called 3C218 (Alphard). Testing finished in 2013, and the official opening was on September 30, 2013. Scientists kept testing it from 2012 to 2015. The telescope’s first connection for very long baseline interferometry happened in January 2014.

Science

The Sardinia Radio Telescope studies stars and other space objects. It measures their light and signals. It works with telescopes around the world using a system called very-long-baseline interferometry. This system is part of the European VLBI Network. The telescope also connects with a space telescope named RadioAstron. It helps with deep space communication for the Italian Space Agency.