radio telescope

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. a system consisting of an antenna, either parabolic or dipolar, used to gather radio waves emitted by celestial sources and bring them to a receiver placed in the focus.

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radio telescope British  

noun

1. an instrument consisting of an antenna or system of antennas connected to one or more radio receivers, used in radio astronomy to detect and analyse radio waves from space

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radio telescope Scientific  

1. An instrument that consists of a radio receiver and antenna system mounted on a wide, bowl-shaped reflector, used to detect radio-frequency emissions from astronomical objects. The reflector and receiver form a parabolic antenna; incoming radio waves are focused by the reflector onto the receiver, where the radio signals are translated into electrical signals for further processing or electronic display. Due to the long wavelengths of radio waves, the reflectors of radio telescopes must be very large to focus the waves at a good resolution. Separate reflectors are sometimes linked in fixed arrays to act as a single collector.

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Etymology

Origin of radio telescope

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Because of this remarkable regularity, astronomers can use powerful radio telescopes to measure the exact arrival times of these pulses and search for subtle patterns linked to phenomena such as low-frequency gravitational waves.

From Science Daily

The research team used data from South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, one of the most powerful radio observatories in the world, made up of 64 interconnected dishes.

From Science Daily

So, an international team of astronomers began to tune the radio telescopes, searching the sky for the ‘special message’ from stars other than our Sun.

From Space Scoop

Because radio waves can penetrate dust and gas that obscure visible light, radio telescopes can observe galaxies invisible to optical instruments.

From Science Daily

By combining data from multiple large radio telescopes across the world, it effectively creates a telescope as large as Earth, capable of capturing fine details around black holes.

From Science Daily