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Sun-Earth Day Presents: Ancient Observatories, Timeless Knowledge

Technology Through Time: Issue #17, Nobeyama

Radio telescopes dot the landscape of Nobeyama like morning mushrooms. Their electronic eyes create movies of solar activity, revealing spectacular solar flares as they are born, grow old, and fade away.

Location:

Nobeyama, Japan
Longitude: 138d 12' E, Latitude: 36d 24' N

Description:

An array of eighty-four antennas aligned in the T-shaped configuration (E-W 500 m, N-S 220 m) dedicated for solar observations. High speed processing of signals from all antennas generates radio images of the Sun at the maximum rate of 20 images per second. It consists of 84 parabolic antennas with 80 cm diameter, sitting on lines of 490 m long in the east/west and of 220 m long in the north/south. Its construction took 2 years and cost 1.8 billion yen. The first observation was in April, 1992 and the daily 8-hours observation has been done since June, 1992. It views the full solar disk at a resolution of 10 arcseconds to 5 arcseconds, and has a time resolution of 0.1 seconds.

Research:

Leading instrument for radio observations of solar flares.

 

Resources

Image Gallery:

SDO
 

Nobeyama Solar Observatory Links

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