The Warkworth 30m Radio Telescope is a
radio telescope
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...
at the
Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory
The Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory is a radio telescope observatory, located just south of Warkworth, New Zealand, about 50 km north of the Auckland CBD. It is operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research, Auck ...
, located just south of
Warkworth, New Zealand
Warkworth (Māori: ''Mahurangi'') is a town on the Northland Peninsula in the upper North Island of New Zealand. It is in the northern part of the Auckland Region. It is located on State Highway 1, north of Auckland and south of Whangārei, an ...
, about 50km north of the
Auckland CBD
The Auckland Central Business District (CBD), or Auckland city centre, is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. It is the area in which Auckland was established in 1840, by William Hobson. It is New Zealand's lea ...
. It is operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research,
Auckland University of Technology
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...
. Originally used for international communication, the university was formally granted a licence to operate the Warkworth 2 antenna by
Telecom New Zealand
Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digital division) ICT services to businesses. It was know ...
in November 2010.
Technical information
The telescope is a 30-metre Cassegrain wheel-and-track
beam waveguide antenna
A beam waveguide antenna is a particular type of antenna dish, at which waveguides are used to transmit the radio beam between the large steerable dish and the equipment for reception or transmission, like e.g. RF power amplifiers.
Principle of ...
. It was manufactured in 1983 by
Nippon Electric Corp., and was first used by Telecom NZ for communication between
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and the
Pacific Islands
Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...
.
Gallery
File:WARK30M01.JPG, The telescope and associated buildings
File:WARK30M02.JPG, Closer view of the dish and track/wheel assembly
File:WARK30M03.JPG, Close up of the dish and secondary reflector
File:30WarkworthManufPlate.JPG, Manufacturers Plate
See also
*
Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory
The Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory is a radio telescope observatory, located just south of Warkworth, New Zealand, about 50 km north of the Auckland CBD. It is operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research, Auck ...
*
Warkworth 12m Radio Telescope
*
Radio astronomy
Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...
*
Radio telescope
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...
*
List of radio telescopes
This is a list of radio telescopes – over one hundred – that are or have been used for radio astronomy. The list includes both single dishes and interferometric arrays. The list is sorted by region, then by name; unnamed telescopes are in r ...
References
External links
* http://www.icrar.org/news/news_items/dish_repurposed_in_new_zealand
* http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/368812/telecom_nz_gives_satellite_dish_aut/
* http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/rodney-times/4350642/Astronomers-eye-old-satellite-dish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warkworth 2 Dish
Radio telescopes
Astronomical observatories in New Zealand