Exploring the Structure of Celestial Object: Mechanism of the Radio Interferometer

22 June, 2020 / Read time: 1 minute

A huge radio telescope made up of many parabolic antennas is called a "radio interferometer". ALMA is also a radio interferometer with 66 antennas.

How does having so many antennas allow us to take detailed images of celestial objects? The key lies in the "time difference" of the radio waves reaching two antennas. This video explains how the image is generated with the radio interferometer.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)