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How do off-axis radio telescopes avoid interference from support structures?
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Radio telescope
Lovell Telescope, a fully steerable radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.
In traditional radio telescopes, support structures like tripods or quadrapods can block incoming radiation and cause signal interference by reflecting waves back into the receiver.1
Off-axis radio telescopes avoid these issues by placing the feed or secondary reflector away from the central axis of the parabolic surface. Because the support structure is positioned outside the path of the incoming signal, it does not block the radiation, resulting in a design that is more sensitive and less susceptible to the distortion caused by reflections from support legs.1