radio telescope

noun

: a radio receiver-antenna combination used for observation in radio astronomy

Examples of radio telescope in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, operates at Green Bank and requires radio silence for its work. Popular Science, 7 Mar. 2024 In the next decade, the EHT Collaboration—which uses eight telescopes around the world to function as one, huge radio telescope—hopes to add more telescopes to its regime and observe at new frequencies. Isaac Schultz / Gizmodo, Quartz, 27 Mar. 2024 Indeed, Wu and his colleagues suggest that their seismic network could piggyback on the infrastructure needed to support other science experiments on the Moon—for example, a radio telescope on the moon’s far side. IEEE Spectrum, 14 Mar. 2024 Such findings are only possible due to the extreme sensitivity this and the other three radio telescopes at the observatory possess. Popular Science, 7 Mar. 2024 Our observations through infrared and radio telescopes show that long before a star comes into being, a vast cloud of gas dozens of light-years across assembles and evolves under the mutually interacting influences of gravity, turbulence, radiation and magnetic fields. Nia Imara, Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024 One way is to scan the heavens with radio telescopes tuned to the frequency of the interstellar hydrogen gas that pervades galaxies. Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2024 Bell-Burnell was monitoring the new radio telescope at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, sifting through reams and reams of paper records to hunt for any unusual anomalies in the peaks of data representing incoming galactic radio waves. Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 1 Aug. 2023 Astronomers discover 25 new repeating fast radio bursts Astronomers have uncovered 25 new sources of repeating fast radio bursts using data from the CHIME radio telescope. Fox News, 6 May 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'radio telescope.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of radio telescope was in 1947

Dictionary Entries Near radio telescope

Cite this Entry

“Radio telescope.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/radio%20telescope. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

radio telescope

noun
: a radio receiver-antenna combination used for observation in radio astronomy

More from Merriam-Webster on radio telescope

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