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A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy , which studies the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum , just as optical telescopes are used to ...
The Large Binocular Telescope at the Mount Graham International Observatory in Arizona uses two curved mirrors to gather light. An optical telescope is a telescope that gathers and focuses light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, to create a magnified image for direct visual inspection, to make a photograph, or to collect data through electronic image sensors.
For example, a 1-meter diameter optical telescope is two million times bigger than the wavelength of light observed giving it a resolution of roughly 0.3 arc seconds, whereas a radio telescope "dish" many times that size may, depending on the wavelength observed, only be able to resolve an object the size of the full moon (30 minutes of arc).
Aperture synthesis is now also being applied to optical telescopes using optical interferometers (arrays of optical telescopes) and aperture masking interferometry at single reflecting telescopes. Radio telescopes are also used to collect microwave radiation, which has the advantage of being able to pass through the atmosphere and interstellar ...
Four of the sixty-four total antennas of the ALMA radio telescope, at the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) West arm of the low-frequency Ukrainian T-shaped Radio telescope, second modification (UTR-2) radio telescope phased array antenna. This is a list of radio telescopes – over one hundred – that are or have been used for radio ...
Visible-light astronomy is part of optical astronomy, [clarification needed] and differs from astronomies based on invisible types of light in the electromagnetic radiation spectrum, such as radio waves, infrared waves, ultraviolet waves, X-ray waves and gamma-ray waves. Visible light ranges from 380 to 750 nanometers in wavelength.
Space telescopes are used at certain wavelengths where the atmosphere is opaque, or to eliminate noise (thermal radiation from the atmosphere). Optical astronomy is the part of astronomy that uses optical instruments (mirrors, lenses, and solid-state detectors) to observe light from near-infrared to near-ultraviolet wavelengths.
Optical telescopes can be classified by three primary optical designs (refractor, reflector, or catadioptric), by sub-designs of these types, by how they are constructed, or by the task they perform. They all have their different advantages and disadvantages and they are used in different areas of professional and amateur astronomy.