Topic: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), federal observatory for radio astronomy , founded in 1956 and operated under contract with the National Science Foundation by Associated Universities, Inc., a group of major universities. The headquarters are at Charlottesville, Va.; the original observatory site is in Greenbank, W.Va., where the antennas, or radio telescopes, include a fully steerable 140-ft (43-m) paraboloid; an interferometer consisting of three steerable 85-ft (26-m) paraboloids; a horn-shaped antenna 120 ft (37 m) in length that is fixed in place; and two smaller, steerable... Read more