The Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO) is operated by SRI International in the Western United States. The observatory is home to the Allen Telescope Array designed and owned by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA.
Location
Hat Creek Radio Observatory is located approximately 467 km (290 mi) northeast of San Francisco, California at an elevation of 986 m (3235 ft) above Sea Level in Hat Creek, California (in Shasta County). Latitude: 40° 49' 03" N; longitude: 121° 28' 24" W.
The nearest large city to Hat Creek is Redding, California on highway I-5.
History
HCRO was founded in the late 1950s by the newly created Radio Astronomy Laboratory (an Organized Research Unit of the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley). An 85-foot antenna was installed in 1962 and operated until 1993, when it collapsed during a wind storm. Using it, astronomers discovered the first astrophysical maser. The university managed the facility until 2012, when SRI International assumed site management.
The earliest experiments in millimeter-wave astronomy were performed at this site starting in the 1970s when a 2-element interferometer was constructed. From 1980-1985 a 3-element interferometer was constructed, with another four antennas added between 1990-1992.
After the 85-foot dish was lost, another three antennas were added to the millimeter array for a total of 10 elements. This came to be known as BIMA.
The BIMA telescopes were moved in the spring of 2005 to be combined with other millimeter antennas as part of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) project and to make way for the Allen Telescope Array (ATA).
- Hat Creek Radio Astronomy Facilities
-
Artist Rendering of completed ATA-350
-
|
|
|---|
|
| Concepts |
- Units (watt and jansky)
- Radio telescope (Radio window)
- Astronomical interferometer (History)
- Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
- Astronomical radio source
|
|---|
|
Radio telescopes
(List) |
Individual
telescopes |
- 500 meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST, China)
- Arecibo Telescope (Puerto Rico, US)
- Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO, US)
- Effelsberg Telescope (Germany)
- Galenki RT-70 (Russia)
- Green Bank Telescope (West Virginia, US)
- Large Millimeter Telescope (Mexico)
- Lovell Telescope (UK)
- Ooty Telescope (India)
- Qitai Radio Telescope (China)
- RATAN-600 Radio Telescope (Russia)
- Sardinia Radio Telescope (Italy)
- Suffa RT-70 (Uzbekistan)
- Usuda Telescope (Japan)
- UTR-2 decameter radio telescope (Ukraine)
- Yevpatoria RT-70 (Ukraine)
- Southern Hemisphere
- HartRAO (South Africa)
- Parkes Observatory (Australia)
- Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory (NZ)
|
|---|
|
| Interferometers |
- Allen Telescope Array (ATA, California, US)
- Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA, Chile)
- Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA, Australia)
- Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP, Australia)
- Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME, Canada)
- Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA, California, US)
- European VLBI Network (Europe)
- Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)
- Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT, India)
- Green Bank Interferometer (GBI, West Virginia, US)
- Korean VLBI Network (KVN, South Korea)
- Large Latin American Millimeter Array (LLAMA, Argentina/Brazil)
- Long Wavelength Array (LWA, New Mexico, US)
- Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR, Netherlands)
- MeerKAT (South Africa)
- Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST, Australia)
- Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN, UK)
- Murchison Widefield Array (MWA, Australia)
- Northern Cross Radio Telescope (Italy)
- Northern Extended Millimeter Array (France)
- One-Mile Telescope (UK)
- Primeval Structure Telescope (PaST, China)
- Square Kilometre Array (SKA, Australia, South Africa)
- Submillimeter Array (SMA, US)
- Very Large Array (VLA, New Mexico, US)
- Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA, US)
- Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT, Netherlands)
|
|---|
|
| Space-based |
- HALCA (Japan)
- Spektr-R (Russia)
|
|---|
|
|---|
|
| Observatories |
- Algonquin Radio Observatory (Canada)
- Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico, US)
- Green Bank Observatory (US)
- Haystack Observatory (US)
- Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK)
- Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (UK)
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US)
- Nançay Radio Observatory (France)
- Onsala Space Observatory (Sweden)
- Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory (PRAO ASC LPI, Russia)
- Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science (SAORAS, Russia)
|
|---|
|
| Multi-use |
- DRAO (Canada)
- ESA New Norcia (Australia)
- PARL (Canada)
|
|---|
|
| People |
|
|---|
|
| Related articles |
|
|---|
|
- Submillimetre astronomy
- Infrared astronomy
- Optical astronomy
- High-energy astronomy
- Gravitational-wave astronomy
|
|
