The São Gião Radio Telescope is situated in the parish of São Gião

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. It was constructed in 2015, with first light in December 2015. The

gregorian telescope The Gregorian telescope is a type of reflecting telescope designed by Scottish mathematician and astronomer James Gregory in the 17th century, and first built in 1673 by Robert Hooke. James Gregory was a contemporary of Isaac Newton, and both ...

has a diameter of 9.3 m. it is the biggest radio telescope in mainland Portugal. Two 3 phase motors drive the

azimuth An azimuth (; from ) is the horizontal angle from a cardinal direction, most commonly north, in a local or observer-centric spherical coordinate system. Mathematically, the relative position vector from an observer ( origin) to a point ...

and elevation (or

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

) servo systems with an accuracy of 0.01 degree. The main reflector has a solid reflector surface that makes it suitable for observations of high frequencies up to 22 GHz. It is used to observe the

hydrogen line The hydrogen line, 21 centimeter line, or H I line is a spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of solitary, electrically neutral hydrogen atoms. It is produced by a spin-flip transition, which means the dire ...

from our galaxy and

maser A maser is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves ( microwaves), through amplification by stimulated emission. The term is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Nikolay Basov, Alexander Pr ...

signals from

star-forming region Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"— collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, star formation inclu ...

s and late evolution AGB or OH/IR stars. The frequencies used for the

is 1.42 GHz and

signals are measured on 1.612, and 12 GHz The data results obtained with the telescope were presented on EUCARA 2016 Dwingeloo Netherlands and on the ASTROFESTA 2018 in Constancia Portugal. The telescope data and methods are also referenced by universities like the

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

, and societies like Ofiuco and the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. A report from the Correio da Beira Serra newspaper about the São Gião radio telescope, can be consulte
here

References

{{Reflist, 40em Radio telescopes Astronomy in Portugal