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The Warkworth 12m Radio Telescope at the Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory is operated by the Institute of Radio Astronomy and Space Research of Auckland University of Technology. It was constructed in 2008 and is located just south of Warkworth off SH1 about 50 km north of Auckland, New Zealand.
Contents
Technical information
12m diameter antenna designed and constructed by COBHAM Satcom, Patriot Products division.
Antenna type : Fully steerable dual shaped Cassegrain Main dish Diam : 12.1 m Secondary Refl Diam : 1.8m Focal Length : 4.538 m Surface precision : 0.35 mm (RMS) Pointing accuracy : 18" Wavelength : L-Band, S-Band and X-Band Mount : alt-azimuth Slewing rates : (5 deg/s in azimuth and 1.25 deg/s in elevation) Acceleration : (1.3 deg/s/s)Dual polarization S and X-band feeds from COBHAM with room temperature receivers, the receiver systems cover 2.2 to 2.4 GHz at S-band and 8.1 to 9.1 GHz at X-band.
Research activity
In 2010 this dish was used for several Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations as part of the Australian Long Baseline Array.
It will also from 2011 be part of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry. As such, it is also co-located with a LINZ/GeoNet 'PositioNZ' GNSS station to help future inclusion in the definition of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF).