Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory facts for kids

The Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory is a radio telescope observatory, located just south of Warkworth, New Zealand, about 50 km north of the Auckland CBD. It is operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research, Auckland University of Technology. The WARK12M 12m Radio Telescope was constructed in 2008. In 2010, a licence to operate the Telecom New Zealand 30m dish was granted, which led to the commissioning of the WARK30M 30m Radio Telescope. The first observations made in conjunction with the Australian Long Baseline Array took place in 2011.

Technical Information

A Hydrogen maser is installed on-site to provide the very accurate timing required by VLBI observations. The observatory has a 10Gbit/s connection to the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network, providing high speed data transfers for files and e-VLBI as well as linking the site to the global national research and education network architecture.