GBT Overview
Overview
- 100 meter diameter fully steerable reflector
- Track at all declinations >-46 degrees, accessing 85% of the entire celestial sphere
- Unblocked aperture for high dynamic range and resistance to interference
- Dynamically scheduled to match science requirements to weather conditions
- State of the art receivers cover from 0.3-116GHz (in the atmospheric windows)
- Aperture efficiency of 70% at 1-15 GHz, 35% at 90 GHz<
- Largest radio telescope at mm wavelengths
- Unique active surface optimizes performance
- Ability to change rapidly between 9 receivers
- Detectors for continuum, spectral line, pulsar and VLBI studies
- 7-pixel heterodyne camera covers 18-27 GHz range
- 64-pixel bolometer camera covers 80-98 GHz range
- 7-beam phased array receiver under development for 1-2 GHz
- Optimized pulsar receiver for 1-3 GHz under development
- Multi-pixel heterodyne array planned for 82-116 GHz
- New spectrometer will have 128 spectral windows at high velocity resolution
- GBT instrument development programs have extensive collaborations with university groups with significant student involvement
