Expert: Paul Wagner - 11/6/2007

Question
What is a radio telescope and what does it look like?

Answer
Hi Philippa

A radio telescope is a telescope that observes the skies with radio waves instead of visible light.  Lots of objects in the universe emit radio radiation of some kind, and telescopes can measure and observe that radiation.  

There are a couple of different kinds of radio telescopes.  Some look like huge dishes ( a bit like those satellite TV dishes) and others just look like big arrays of the old TV antennas the people used to put on their houses. Sometimes those arrays can be as big as a football field, or even larger.

Hope that helps.

Paul Wagner
Paul Wagner