Green Bank Interferometer
formerly operational radio interferometer in Green Bank, West Virginia, United States
The Green Bank Interferometer (GBI) is a former radio astronomy telescope located at Green Bank, West Virginia, U.S., and operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. It included three on-site radio telescopes of 85-foot (26m) diameter, designated 85-1, 85-3, and 85-2 (85-1 is also known as the Tatel Telescope) and a portable telescope.
History
The first telescope (85-1, Tatel) was built in 1959 at a fixed location. It was used in Project Ozma in 1960 without interferometer. In 1963, in anticipation of adding movable telescopes for the interferometer, the second 85-foot (26 m) telescope kit identical to 85-1 was ordered. The construction of the second telescope (85-2) was completed in 1964 along with a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) track from 85-1. At that time, the 85-2 telescope was placed at the end of the track and cables were connected between the two telescopes. The GBI began operation that year as a two element interferometer in order to test large aperture synthesis arrays and study radio astrometry and interstellar scintillation.
In 1967 the array was upgraded with construction of the third element (85-3) to be located in the middle of the track. Both 85-2 and 85-3 had truck tires mounted on either side to allow them to be moved along the track to test different baselines.
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This entry incorporates text from “Green Bank Interferometer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.