Radio Astronomy and SETI - Big Ear Radio Observatory Memorial Website

Time 2020-12-22 11:03:44

Web Name: Radio Astronomy and SETI - Big Ear Radio Observatory Memorial Website

WebSite: http://www.bigear.org

ID:142550

Keywords:

and,SETI,Radio,SETI,extraterrestrial,radio,astronomy, SETI,extraterrestrial,radi

Description:

Welcome to the original website of the former Ohio State University Radio Observatory (OSURO), also known as Big Ear. The Observatory was a Kraus-type radio telescope, named for Dr. John D. Kraus, the founder and director of the observatory, who was also the designer and builder of the telescope. Big Ear covered an area larger than three football fields.The telescope was famous for discovering some of the most distant knownobjects in the universe, as well as for the "Wow!"Signal and the longest-running SETI(Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) project entered intothe Guinness Book of Records. This unique probe of the depths of the cosmos was located in Delaware, Ohio (about 30 miles north of Columbus).Big Ear StructuresComments About the Above Aerial Photograph of the Big Ear Radio TelescopeThe various structures you see in the above aerial photo of Big Ear areeach described in a separate section of this website.For proper viewing you will need to have a browser that is both JavaScript-enabled and can handle frames.To go there now, please click here.In late 1997, after almost 40 years of operation, the Ohio StateUniversity Radio Observatory, with its "Big Ear" radio telescope, ceasedoperation. The land on which the observatory was sitting (owned by theOhio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio) was sold by them in 1983 to landdevelopers who later claimed their rights to develop the land. Thetelescope was destroyed in early 1998. An adjacent 9-hole golf course wasexpanded into 18 holes and about 400 homes were planned for constructionon the nearby land owned by those developers.This website is meant to serve as a memorial to that unique radio telescope, to its designer and builder (the late Dr. John D. Kraus) and the many persons involved with the telescope, and to the discoveries made with that instrument.As was noted above, the Big Ear radio telescope was demolished by landdevelopers in 1998. The volunteers who had been operating Big Ear prior toits destruction stayed together as a group following Big Ear's demise(although with a continual evolution of some people leaving and othersjoining). This continuing group has been exploring new possibilities. One ofthese is the next generation radio telescope called "Argus", which has the ability to see in alldirections at once.The group also formed an organization called "NAAPO" (North AmericanAstroPhysical Observatory) for the purposes of developing Argus and otherprojects, and the raising of funds for those projects.[Note. Some of the articles on this website were written in the present and future tenses at a time when the Big Ear was still standing and active. Since the Big Ear was destroyed in 1998, you should interpret language mentioning the present or the future of the Big Ear radio telescope in the context of historical documents and not necessarily referring to our present time.]

TAGS:and SETI Radio SETI extraterrestrial radio astronomy  SETI extraterrestrial radi

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This Kraus-type radio telescope, larger than three football fields, was famous for the Wow! Signal and for the longest-running SETI project.

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