Radio Astronomy Observatories - Information

The UK has a number of Radio Astronomy sites, which are recognized, nationally and internationally.

Their locations, along with the list of European Observatories, are listed in Annex A.

The observatories operations are purely passive.

At present, there are no current plans to increase the number of UK radio observatories. There have been discussions, in the past, to add to the UK's current observatories. At one stage, Northern Ireland was identified as a possible site. However, following discussions with Government and Trade, it was not felt possible to successfully protect this proposal, due to the extensive use of radio in the Province. Informal discussions took place on the suitability of a site in the far west corner of southern Ireland, though these discussions were very provisional and no decisions were made.

The Radiocommunications Agency will carry out the international co-ordination activities (with regard to non-UK radio astronomy sites). However, this is likely to have minimual, if any, impact.

Acknowledgements: Extracts from the 1997 Edition of "CRAF Handbook for Radio Astronomy - 2nd Edition".

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