The Warkworth 12m 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 50 km 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 of Radio Astronomy and Space Research of

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 ...

and was constructed in 2008.

Technical information

The 12m diameter antenna was designed and constructed by COBHAM Satcom. The antenna is a fully steerable dual shaped Cassegrain with a main dish diameter of 12.1m and a secondary reflector diameter of 1.8m. The focal Length is 4.538m. The surface precision is 0.35mm (RMS) and the pointing accuracy is 18 inches. It operates in the

L-Band The L band is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) designation for the range of frequencies in the radio spectrum from 1 to 2 gigahertz (GHz). This is at the top end of the ultra high frequency (UHF) band, at the lower en ...

S-Band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventional ...

and

X-Band The X band is the designation for a band of frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is rather indefinitely set at approxim ...

with dual polarisation S and X-band feeds from COBHAM with room temperature receivers. The receiver systems cover 2.2 to 2.4 GHz at S-band and 8.1 to 9.1 GHz at X-band. It is mounted alt-azimuth and has slewing rates of 5 deg/s in azimuth and 1.25 deg/s in elevation, and acceleration of 1.3 deg/s/s.

Research activity

In 2010 this dish was used for several

very-long-baseline interferometry Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometer, astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telesco ...

(VLBI) observations in conjunction with the Australian Long Baseline Array. From 2011 it was a part of the International VLBI Service for

Geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

and

Astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. His ...

. It is also co-located with a

Land Information New Zealand Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with geographical information and surveying functions as well as handling land titles, and managing Crown land and property. The minist ...

and

GNS Science GNS Science ( mi, Te Pū Ao), officially registered as the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. It focuses on geology, geophysics (including seismology and volcanology), and nuclear sc ...

'PositioNZ'

Global Navigation Satellite System A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pre ...

station, to assist in maintaining the

International Terrestrial Reference Frame The International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) describes procedures for creating reference frames suitable for use with measurements on or near the Earth's surface. This is done in much the same way that a physical standard might be descri ...

References

External links

* http://www.irasr.aut.ac.nz {{Radio-astronomy Radio telescopes Astronomical instruments

Technical information

Research activity

See also

References

External links