Science: Radio Eye

Astronomers are not building many ordinary optical telescopes these days, but electronic telescopes for catching radio waves from space are under construction in many countries. One of their advantages: they need not be built on clear-aired deserts or mountaintops. They can see the sky through the thickest clouds or even the smoky glare of Pittsburgh or Los Angeles.

Last week, in cloudy New England, Harvard University dedicated a new radio telescope at the Agassiz Station of the Harvard Observatory, 25 miles west of Cambridge. The telescope's 60-ft. "dish" antenna is steerable (it points anywhere) and is specially designed to pick up 21-cm....

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