The Sardinia Radio Telescope is a large, fully steerable radio telescope currently being completed near San Basilio

San Basilio

San Basilio is a comune in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, about north of Cagliari. As of 31 December 2004, it has a population of 1,371 and an area of ....

, province of Cagliari

Cagliari

Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...

 in Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, Italy. It is a collaboration among the Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna

Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna

The Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna is one of the Italian institutes that had already been part of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , now part of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica .Many learned researchers in astronomy, physics, engineering or...

, the Cagliari Astronomy Observatory (Cagliari) and the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory

Arcetri Observatory

The Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri is an astronomical observatory located in Arcetri in the outskirts of Florence, Italy. Observatory staff carry out theoretical and observational astronomy as well as designing and constructing astronomical instrumentation...

 (Florence). It is expected to be complete in 2011.

The main technical points are:

• A 64 meter primary mirror with a 7.9 meter secondary;
• A Gregorian
  Gregorian telescope
  The Gregorian telescope is a type of reflecting telescope designed by Scottish mathematician and astronomer James Gregory in the 17th century, and first built in 1673 by Robert Hooke...
  
   configuration with shaped surfaces
• An active surface
  Active surface
  An active surface is a surface of a radio telescope that is under active computer control of its shape.Large radio telescopes always bend during operation, due to their enormous weight and the fact that even the strongest materials are not perfectly stiff...
  
  : Primary mirror adjustable with 1116 actuators;
• 0.3-115 GHz continuous frequency coverage
• Three main focal points: Primary, Gregorian, and Beam Wave Guide
• Primary surface accuracy: ≈150 μm RMS
• Maximum antenna efficiency: ≈60 %
• Pointing accuracy (RMS): 2-5 arcsec

External links

Home page of the telescope.