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The Silhouette of a Radio Telescope against the Carina-Sagittarius Arm of our Milky Way Galaxy.
About the Radio Telescope in this photo:
The 15m dish at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, built as the initial eXperimental Development Model (XDM) for KAT (Karoo Array Telescope), the first phase of MeerKAT and the SKA SA – Square Kilometre Array - South Africa.
At the time that I took this photo of the Prototype, the first 64 Radio Telescope Dishes were already up and running on location at Carnarvon in the Northern Cape.
Why do we use Radio Telescopes for Astronomy?
The human eye can only see about one ten trillionth of the Electromagnetic Magnetic Spectrum of light (between 400-700nm, with diminished sensitivity at both ends). Radio Telescopes can detect a much wider range of Electromagnetic Radiation including Radio waves, Microwaves, Terahertz waves, Infrared, Visible light, Ultraviolet, X-rays, and Gamma rays).
About the Milky Way:
The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars. Stars are suns, and just like in our Solar System, many of the stars have planets and moons. Our sun is a middle aged Yellow Dwarf star, located in the Orion Arm (or Orion Spur) of the Milky Way Galaxy. It’s a minor side spiral arm, located between two larger arms of the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral. The Milky Way is merely one mid-sized barred spiral Galaxy, amongst over 100 billion other Galaxies in the observable Universe. When we look up at the night sky from Earth, we see a glimpse of the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It takes about 250 million years for the Milky Way Galaxy's spiral arms to complete one rotation.
“The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home." - Carl Sagan.
The known Universe is estimated to contain over One Billion Trillion stars (1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000).
Astrometry Info:
View an Annotated Sky Chart showing the Constellations that are visible in this photo. View this image in the WorldWideTelescope.
&creditsUrl=&ra=269.610859&dec=-11.871760&x=442.5&y=764.3&rotation=28.24&thumb=http://nova.astrometry.net/image/5070406){kind=link}
Martin
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For the set 'Observatories around the world': the 26 meter dish of the South African Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory.
Satellite Laser and Radio Ranging System:
One of the 1.3 Gigawatt Pulsed Lasers at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO), tracking the telemetry of a Satellite as it passes overhead.
About this specific Laser Ranging System:
"The system can range to satellites with an orbital altitude of 25 000 km, perform continuous tracking of navigation signals from GLONASS and Global Positioning System satellites, take measurements of current navigation parameters and receive navigation messages transmitted from the satellites." - SARAO News.
Note: This was shortly after dark and what seems to be a bright star above the laser, is in fact the planet Jupiter.
Just for fun - how powerful is 1.3 Gigawatt?
It is more than Doc Brown needed in Back to the Future!
A big thank you to Heystek Grobler from HartRAO for showing me around.
Flickr Explore:
Martin
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14 Likes on Instagram
2 Comments on Instagram:
fikiswa: #instagramsouthafrica #hartrao #rao #radiotelescope #astronomy
There's always a braaistand at the ready. You never know when we might have the urge to braai :-) #iphoneza #igerjohannesburg #HartRAO
3 Likes on Instagram
1 Comments on Instagram:
Radio astronomers work all day, everyday! #HartRAO #RadioTelescope #RadioAstronomy
5 Likes on Instagram
The ground station of the GLONASS system was put into operation in the territory Hartebisthukskoy Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in the town of Krugersdorp (South Africa). This was reported in the Scientific and Production Corporation "Precision Instrumentation Systems" (the company - the developer of the station). "Station" Sazhen-TM-BIS "officially put into operation in South Africa", - said the corporation. The installed system is designed, in particular, to continuously monitor the navigation signals of GLONASS and GPS, the measurement of current navigation parameters of their movement and receive navigation messages from satellites.
The 15m dish at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, built as the initial eXperimental Development Model (XDM) for KAT (Karoo Array Telescope), the first phase of MeerKAT and the SKA SA – Square Kilometre Array - South Africa.
Why do we use Radio Telescopes?
The human eye can only see about one ten trillionth of the Electromagnetic Magnetic Spectrum of light (between 400-700nm, with diminished sensitivity at both ends). Radio Telescopes can detect a much wider range of electromagnetic radiation including Radio waves, Microwaves, Terahertz waves, Infrared, Visible light, Ultraviolet, X-rays, and Gamma rays).
A big thank you to Heystek Grobler from HartRAO for showing me around.
Martin
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The 26m dish at Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory.
When I took this photograph, the Radio Telescope was observing a MASER (an acronym for: Microwave Amplification by Stimulation Emission of Radiation).
Why do we use Radio Telescopes?
The human eye can only see about one ten trillionth of the Electromagnetic Magnetic Spectrum of light (between 400-700nm, with diminished sensitivity at both ends). Radio Telescopes can detect a much wider range of Electromagnetic Radiation including Radio waves, Microwaves, Terahertz waves, Infrared, Visible light, Ultraviolet, X-rays, and Gamma rays).
A big thank you to Heystek Grobler from HartRAO for showing me around.
Flickr Explore:
Martin
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Forty kilometers north of Pretoria lies a ring of hills a kilometer in diameter and 100 meters high. These hills are the walls of an impact crater left by an asteroid which hit there some 200 000 years ago. The Tswaing crater is similar in size to the well-known Barringer meteor crater in Arizona. The crater walls at Tswaing were originally about twice as high as they are today.
For more information on this crater, visit : www.hartrao.ac.za/other/tswaing/tswaing.html
Best viewed LARGE
25 m above the ground. @larrythehamm looks quite pleased with himself
2 Likes on Instagram
5 Comments on Instagram:
avidave: wont yall be radiocuted though ?
larrythehamm: @fikiswa you gonna make that happen today again right??
fikiswa: @larrythehamm Sorry I couldn't make it happen this time. When you guys aren't as unbelievable busy as you currently are, we should arrange for a proper visit to hartRAO- with start gazing and everything!
larrythehamm: @fikiswa please! Mid dec?
fikiswa: @larrythehamm Definitely! We'll talk :-)
An example of a new generation of small dishes. This one is located at Hartebeeshoek near Johannesburg in South Africa.
It's tricky trying to keep a door closed when it's in the corridor and off its hinges.... #HartRAO #renovations #MicrowaveLab #door
2 Likes on Instagram
1 Comments on Instagram:
_moeketsi_: LOL
Soccer practice. We're playing with the folks at the South African National Space Agency next week. We have to kick their asses! #HartRAO #RAO #Soccer #football #practice #radioastronomy #telescope #space
14 Likes on Instagram
3 Comments on Instagram:
motzn: Yo! The dish is massive!
fikiswa: @motzn Yup! It has a mass 200 tons, and a diametre of 26m!!
motzn: That big!!
Tuned in. #antenna #26m #radioastronomy #rao #hartrao #astronomy #blesbok #antelope #bokkie
9 Likes on Instagram
2 Comments on Instagram:
They spent about 10 minutes shooting the blesbok. I've spent the same amount of time trying to argue my case and convincing my colleagues that a spit braai isn't such a bad idea... #HartRAO #bok #blesbok
4 Likes on Instagram
1 Comments on Instagram:
beoriginal9: They need to man up and give the lady the spit braai she deserves