Europe's biggest radiotelescope in fast-burst-finding upgrade

Monday 11th April 2016 05:23 GMT allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

More info on the dish: Wickedpedia entry (English)

Homepage of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (English)

Trivia: the dish was used as a location for a popular murder mystery TV series. Episode guide / scroll to #8. Spoiler alert: former astrophysicist kills other astrophysicist and places body of murder victim in the dish.

3 0 Reply
1. Monday 11th April 2016 11:39 GMT Brenda McViking
  
  There is also a film called "The Dish" based on the Ozzie Parkes telescope and it's role within the tracking and televising of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
  
  It's currently on Netflix, I watched it last night, and it's really rather good.
  
  3 0 Reply
  1. Monday 11th April 2016 12:02 GMT Gordon 10
    
    Pshaww! Show me where the Timelord fell off it and regenerated or it doesn't exist.
    
    Not sure what kind of coat it will be yet. Still waiting on Wardrobe Dept.---->
    
    0 0 Reply
Monday 11th April 2016 08:25 GMT Andy The Hat

"Top"

Call yourself a physicist and use the phrase 'top half of the planet' ...?

0 0 Reply
1. Monday 11th April 2016 10:26 GMT lglethal
  
  Re: "Top"
  
  You're right!!!
  
  Everyone knows the maps are all upside down and the "Southern Hemisphere" is really the top half of the planet! Hence the expression "Australia is Tops!"
  
  2 1 Reply
Monday 11th April 2016 08:49 GMT Michael H.F. Wilkinson

Title?

The title is somewhat misleading, it had me thinking this was an upgrade to LOFAR, which is the biggest radio telescope in Europe. The first paragraph puts things straight however. LOFAR and WSRT (among others) are FAR bigger, fully steerable scopes, but they are not single dishes. LOFAR does beam forming digitally (it is a huge phased array), whereas WSRT consists of 14 steerable dishes, which have recently been upgraded with an array antenna at the focus of each dish, similar to the Effelsberg upgrade. Surveys can be done much faster now. We live in fascinating times.

1 0 Reply
Monday 11th April 2016 12:06 GMT Gordon 10

Hang on sec

This is all a false flag operation to operationalise the particle beams isn't it?

How long have be we got before "they" arrive? Should I continue saving for the kids university fee's or blow it all on a compound in the hills?

2 0 Reply
1. Monday 11th April 2016 15:04 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Re: Hang on sec
  
  Always on a compound in the hills and you'll be able to hear lovely banjo music playing on the breeze :)
  
  0 0 Reply
2. Tuesday 12th April 2016 14:24 GMT MT Field
  
  Re: Hang on sec
  
  Cocaine and hookers,
  
  0 0 Reply
Monday 11th April 2016 13:40 GMT Anonymous Coward

The upgrade

Big dishes give high signal gains for the direction they are pointed towards. Great if you want to point at only one part of the sky but rotten for surveying.

The phased array feeds at the focus give multiple directions that they are pointing towards

while retaining the gain. This is a massive improvement for surveys, but no help at all for observing a single object.

1 0 Reply