Practical Antenna Handbook 5/e, 5th Edition

CHAPTER 22Radio Astronomy Antennas

For centuries astronomers have scanned the heavens with optical telescopes. But today, astronomers have many more tools in their bag, and one of them is radio astronomy. The field of radio astronomy emerged in the 1930s and 1940s through the work of Grote Reber and Carl Jansky. Even during World War II, progress was made as many tens of thousands of operators were listening to frequencies from “dc to daylight” (well, actually, the low end of the microwave bands). British radar operators noted during the Battle of Britain that the distance at which they could detect German aircraft dropped when the Milky Way was above the horizon.

Although there is a lot of amateur radio astronomy being done, most of it requires ...