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FAST cannot do radar astronomy, as it has no transmitting capability. Among other things, this means FAST is less useful for tracking near-earth asteroids.
by progman32 6y ago
FAST cannot do radar astronomy, as it has no transmitting capability. Among other things, this means FAST is less useful for tracking near-earth asteroids.
- ngcc_hk 6y agoIt is not what it can or cannot. It is whether it is part of the world community in a real sense. When they plan it, who is involved, why it is where it is and why no Radar out ?
- DaiPlusPlus 6y agoI assume that due to the rotation of the earth that when Arecibo emits a radar beam that other radio-telescopes on earth collect? Otherwise only objects within Arecibo’s relatively narrow FoV (that are also very close to earth) would be detected - so wouldn’t a purpose-built (and steerable!) radar emitter be more useful?
- notthemessiah 6y agoArecibo was steerable, that's what the receiver array was for.
- Aeolun 6y agoSort of, 5 degrees isn’t exactly a lot.
- mulmen 6y agoNope, it transmitted and received. The range was limited to about Jupiter because the dish would move over the effective horizon before the signals returned. Pretty incredible!