The Nançay radio observatory is developping and operating among the biggest radioastronomy instruments in the world, observing the universe at wavelengths between 3 cm and 10 m. The station houses 2 instrumental demonstrators: the EMBRACE array, first SKA (Square Kilometer Array) prototype for the middle frequency band (0.5 to 1.5 GHz), and the CODALEMA array. In parallel, innovative processing methods are developped for interferences monitoring and mitigation.
geographic longitude: | 02° 11′ 50″ |
geographic latitude: | 47° 22′ 24″ |
altitude above sea level: | 150 m |
diameter telescope 1 (Decametric array): | 144 elements on 2×3500 m2 (equivalent to a single dish with diameter of 67 m) |
diameter telescope 2 (Radio heliograph): | array of 19 elements (EW) and 24 elements (NS) over 3200×1250 meter baselines |
diameter telescope 3 (Decimetric radio telescope): | ‘Kraus type’ antenna: flat mirror: 200×40 meter; spherical mirror: 300×35 meter |
diameter telescope 4 (ORFEES) | 5 m, dedicated to space meteorology |
minimum elevation: | 3.6° |
Available observing mode: single dish, array mode.
Frequencies, as registered and used currently:
Frequency band | Observing mode |
10 – 100 MHz | decametric array |
150 – 450 MHz | radio heliograph |
130 – 1000 MHz | single dish (ORFEES) |
1100 – 1800 MHz | single dish, decimetric radio telescope |
1700 – 3500 MHz | single dish, decimetric radio telescope |
4800 – 5000 MHz | |
10.68 – 10.7 GHz |
Research programs: extra-galactic radio astronomy (large scale structure, physics of galaxies), galactic research (pulsar timing, circumstellar envelopes), cometary research, solar and planetary radio astronomy (Sun, planets).