Synthesis telescope The Synthesis Telescope consists of seven nine-metre metal-mesh reflector antennas along a 600-m east-west baseline. The antennas are equipped with single-circular
polarisation receivers at 408
MHz and dual circular receivers at 1420 MHz, from which all four
Stokes parameters may be formed. A
spectrometer may also be employed at 1420 MHz for study of the
21-cm hydrogen line. Maps of the sky are formed using the technique of
aperture synthesis.
John A. Galt Telescope The John A. Galt Telescope consists of a single metal-mesh antenna which can be equipped to observe at 408 MHz and at 1.5, 2.7, 4.9, 6.6, and 8.4 GHz, including the hydrogen line near 1.4 GHz, the
OH lines around 1.6 GHz, and the
methanol line near 6.6 GHz. The telescope, formerly simply referred to as the 26-metre Telescope, was renamed in honour of John A. Galt, first employee and former director of the DRAO, during a special ceremony in 2014. The Galt telescope was used in the first successful measurements using
very long baseline interferometry.
Solar-flux monitor The monitor consists of two solid-surface dish antennas simultaneously observing at 10.7-cm wavelength, located near
Penticton, British Columbia.
Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment The
Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a radio interferometer which is mapping the
21 cm line of neutral Hydrogen over the cosmological
redshift range of 0.8 to 2.5. It consists of four cylindrical reflector antennas, each 100 metres long and 20 metres wide. Each cylinder has 256 dual-polarisation feed antennas spaced along the focal line. Data from this telescope will be used to measure
baryon acoustic oscillations, giving a length scale that can be used to measure the expansion history of the universe.
Engineering In addition to observing facilities, the DRAO operates design and development laboratories for receivers and electronics. Projects include instrumentation for external observatories, such as the
Very Large Array and the
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. ==See also==