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The Dwingeloo Radio Observatory is a single-dish radio telescope near the village of Dwingeloo ( [ˈdʋɪŋəloː]) in the northeastern Netherlands. Construction started in 1954, and the telescope was completed in 1956. The radio telescope has a diameter of 25 m and at the time of completion it was the largest radio telescope in the world.
As of 2000, it was no longer in operation in an official capacity. Since August 2009, the radio telescope has been national heritage site (rijksmonument). The telescope dish was removed for restoration in June 2012. The "C.A. Muller Radio Astronomy Station" foundation ("CAMRAS" for short) restored the telescope to working order. The dish was remounted in November 2012.
Paul Boven (JIVE, CAMRAS), along with radio amateurs and amateur astronomers, use the telescope for projects, one being Earth–Moon–Earth communication, also known as moonbounce, which allows for people on different parts of Earth to communicate via the Moon. In this technique, radio wave signals are aimed at the Moon by one location, bounce off the Moon's surface, and are detected by an antenna at a different location on Earth.
The radio telescope is owned by ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. The site of the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory also houses most of the staff of ASTRON and a test site for LOFAR.
Two galaxies are named after this telescope: Dwingeloo 1 and Dwingeloo 2.