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Powerful Amplifier For Radio-Telescope Planned At U-M

Powerful Amplifier For Radio-Telescope Planned At U-M image
Parent Issue
Day
19
Month
January
Year
1961
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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Powerful Amplifier For Radio-Telescope Planned At U-M

University physicists and engineers are beginning a program to design and build a radio-telescope amplifier which they expect will be about 10 times more sensitive than any in the world.

The Institute of Science and Technology program will be supported by a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the institute announced yesterday.

The institute’s solid-state physics laboratory, which will do the research on the new ruby maser amplifier, designed and built the maser now operating on the University’s 85-foot radio telescope at Peach Mountain, some 14 miles northwest of here.

The laboratory’s scientists believe this amplifier is probably the most sensitive in the world. With it, U-M radio astronomers made the world’s first records of natural radio emissions from the planet Saturn and from a planetary nebula (dying star). Besides making the new amplifier some 10 times more sensitive, the group also will make it much simpler to operate and more reliable.

When finished, the new radiometer will be put at the disposal of the U-M department of astronomy, which operates the radio-telescope at Peach Mountain.