Big Dipper and the 140-foot

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Big Dipper and the 140-foot

The Big Dipper points to the 140-foot (43-meter) aluminum-clad parabolic dish antenna of the world’s largest polar-aligned telescope. The rounded yoke swivels around the central axis of the telescope which is aligned perfectly with the rotational axis of the Earth. For the Northern Hemisphere, that means that the sky (and this telescope) wheels around a point near the North Star, Polaris. In this way, the telescope can easily track objects in the sky as they appear to rise and set from the Earth’s spin on its axis.

Credit: T. Burchell, NRAO/AUI/NSF

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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
	Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.
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