RADIO ASTRONOMY IS:

Revealing the Invisible Universe

Radio waves are simply another band -- or range of color -- of light. While stars shine most brightly at optical wavelengths, they also shine across the spectrum, including radio waves. Other objects, like star-forming clouds, emit little to any visible light, though they shine brightly in radio light.

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RADIO ASTRONOMY IS:

In the News!

Our cutting-edge telescopes are used to make new, radio discoveries every day, by penetrating through the dust and clouds of galaxies that obscures visible light.

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RADIO ASTRONOMY IS:

Exploration

Interactively learn about our Universe, our telescopes, and the people who make it all possible.

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Image of the Week:

A Comet Hits Jupiter

 This pair of radio images taken by the Very Large Array (VLA) shows the planet Jupiter before (left - June 24, 1994) and after (right July 19, 1994) fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 struck the planet in 1994. The disk of the planet is in the center of the images. The bright red spots are regions high above Jupiter's "surface" where electrons interacting with the planet's intense magnetic field are producing strong radio emission. These "radiation belts" are similar to the Van Allen Radiation Belts discovered above the Earth in 1958.
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A Comet Hits Jupiter
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