The Orgov Radio-Optical Telescope, also known as ROT54 or the Herouni Mirror 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 ...
in
Orgov, Armenia. It was built between 1975-1985 and was active between 1986-1990 before its use was halted. Subsequently, many attempts have been made to restore and restart the ROT54. It was registered as a historical and culturally significant Armenian monument in 2002 (monument N: 2.114.19.11.).
Specifications
The telescope is located at the
RRI Aragats Scientific Centre in Orgov, Armenia. It is on
Mount Aragats,
at a height of .
The radio telescope has a diameter of . It is hemispherical, and fixed to the ground, with a movable secondary mirror with a diameter of .
This provides a useful diameter of . It has a surface accuracy around 70/100 μm, giving an operating wavelength of 30-3mm (10-100 GHz),
and was originally designed to observe down to 1 mm (300 GHz).
The optical telescope has a mirror, with a
focal length
The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system converges light, while a negative foca ...
.
History
Development
In 1964,
Paris Herouni
Paris Misakovich Herouni (, December 17, 1933 – December 5, 2008) was a Soviet and Armenian physicist and engineer. He was a member of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences in the fields of radio-physics, radio-engineering, and radio-astr ...
proposed the concept to
Sergei Korolev. Korolev approved the project and, after various delays, work began in 1975.
Active construction took place between 1981 and 1985.
Demolitions were set on the slope of Mount Aragats, to create a pit for the dish. Subsequently, concrete was poured into the pit, and 3600 flat metal panels were "walled up" in the pit, attached to iron pipes, to form the telescope's mirror. On average, each panel is one square meter in size. The panels were made of high-strength alloys of aluminum with copper, magnesium, and manganese. Of particular technical difficulty was the polishing of the panels. A very uniform surface is needed to receive radio waves in the millimeter and sub-millimeter ranges. Each panel was hand-molded and precision-finished to within 70 microns.
The telescope became operational in 1986.
In the same year, Heruni received patent number 1377941 for “Mirror Radio Telescope Heruni”. The remaining infrastructure was completed in 1987.
Operations and observations
The observatory was active between 1987 and 1990.
An explosion of the red giant (the twin star of the constellation Gemini) was recorded, numerous articles were published in scientific journals of the USSR and abroad, and reports were made at conferences.
The Telescope was subjected to, but not damaged, by the
1988 Armenian earthquake
The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake ( hy, Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ, ), occurred on December 7 at with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurre ...
.
Decommission and restoration attempts
Telescope operations ceased around 1990. In the mid-1990s restoration of the telescope was proposed.
In 1995-2010, the telescope was modernized with new control computers and new feeds, and observations resumed, in collaboration with the
Astronomical Society of Russia and the
National Technical University of Athens
The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; el, Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο, ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest higher education institution ...
.
In 2012, ROT 54 / 2.6 operations ceased again, when a control arm failed, immobilizing the secondary mirror. The Armenian state could not cover the cost of repairs, and the research complex was mothballed. More than half the buildings at the GETSAI site were left vacant.
Future operation requires further upgrades to the control systems, comprehensive adjustments, replacement of outdated analog sensors with digital ones, and modernization of the data processing systems. According to experts, these upgrades will cost approximately $25 million.
In 2018-2019, a restoration project was prepared, to join the telescope to the
European VLBI Network
The European VLBI Network (EVN) is a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa and Puerto Rico, which performs very high angular resolution observations of cosmic radio sources usin ...
.
Implementation was planned to begin in 2019.
See also
*
Arecibo Telescope
The Arecibo Telescope was a spherical reflector radio telescope built into a natural sinkhole at the Arecibo Observatory located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico. A cable-mount steerable receiver and several radar transmitters for emitting signals wer ...
*
FAST
References
{{Reflist, refs=
[{{cite journal , last1=Herouni , first1=Paris M. , title=Measured Parameters of Large Antenna of ROT-54/2.6 Tell about Absence of Big Bang , journal=National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Reports , date=2007 , volume=107 , page=73 , url=http://elib.sci.am/2007_1/10_1_2007.pdf]
[{{cite journal , last1=Martin , first1=J. M. , last2=Rosolen , first2=C. , title=Perspectives of the ROT 54/32/2.6 in astronomy , journal=Astrophysics , date=October 1995 , volume=38 , issue=4 , pages=361–363 , doi=10.1007/BF02044713, bibcode=1995Ap.....38..361M , s2cid=124009116 ]
[{{cite web , last1=Sargsyan , first1=Arevik , title=Presentation of ROT-54/2.6 , date=4–5 October 2018 , url=https://events.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/indico/event/80/material/1/10.pdf]
Radio telescopes
Astronomical observatories built in the Soviet Union
Buildings and structures in Aragatsotn Province