Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO; Chinese:新疆天文台; pinyin:Xīnjiāng tiānwéntái) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was known as Ürümqi Astronomical Observatory before it was renamed in January 2011.
The current research at XAO spans many fields of astronomy. It consists of radio astronomy, optical astronomy and applications of astronomy, especially pulsars, star formation and evolution, galaxies and cosmology, high energy astrophysics, microwave receiver, digital technology, GPS, and so on. The Radio Astrophysics Laboratory of XAO is a member of the radio astronomy key laboratories in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has also been awarded the status of Key Laboratory of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. XAO operates the Nanshan site, Kashgar site, Qitai site and other two independent ground stations.
Plans also exist for the construction of a large, fully steerable single-dish radio telescope (diameter 110m), which is called Qitai Radio Telescope, or QTT for short. The chosen site for the facility is in Banjiegou Town, Qitai County. Upon completion, the sensitivity of 110m antenna is about 20 times more than a 25m telescope.[1][2]
On July 15, 2012, the groundbreaking ceremony took place at Banjiegou for the Xinjiang Qitai Astronomical and Science Education Base,[3] which is presumably the facility that will house the telescope.
Programs
XAO has held a wide range of interesting public science popularization since it was set up. Popular science in XAO comprises Star Party for the public, Field Trip for students, Astronomers Get into Campus, free camps for children who live in remote poverty-stricken areas, Open House Day and so on. The results of spreading public science depend not only on our ability but also on our willingness to give.
International collaboration is an important channel for XAO to promote the development of astronomy, astrophysics and other related fields of science. So far, XAO has already established friendly relationship with America, Australia, Netherland, Japan, Germany, England, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Besides, has also established a good partnership with domestic scientific research institutions as well as universities.
XAO has more than 100 staff, including 87 scientific and technical personnel, 19 management personnel, also hired 2 foreign professor emeritus and experts from well known universities and research institutions as our guest professors.
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by astronomical objects, just as optical telescopes are the main observing instrument used in traditional optical astronomy which studies the light wave portion of the spectrum coming from astronomical objects. Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can be used in the daytime as well as at night.
Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1932, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories observed radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observations have identified a number of different sources of radio emission. These include stars and galaxies, as well as entirely new classes of objects, such as radio galaxies, quasars, pulsars, and masers. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, regarded as evidence for the Big Bang theory, was made through radio astronomy.
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The National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) of India is a research institution in India in the field of radio astronomy is located in the Pune University Campus, is part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India. NCRA has an active research program in many areas of Astronomy and Astrophysics, which includes studies of the Sun, Interplanetary scintillations, pulsars, the Interstellar medium, Active galaxies and cosmology and particularly in the specialized field of Radio Astronomy and Radio instrumentation. NCRA also provides exciting opportunities and challenges in engineering fields such as Analog and Digital Electronics, Signal Processing, Antenna Design, Communication and Software Development. NCRA has set up the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), the world's largest telescope operating at meter wavelengths located at Khodad, 80 km from Pune. NCRA also operates the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT), which is a large Cylindrical Telescope located near Udhagamandalam, India.
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