Vermilion River Radio Observatory

[Michiel Klaassen]

Hi All,

I found this picture of the Vermilion River Radio Observatory, Danville, Illinois

 

However I cannot find it on google maps.

Does it still exist?

Looks to be perfect for FRB observations.

Before trying to contact them; does anybody know someting more.

Regards,

Michiel

parac.eu

[Robert Arrowsmith]

Hi Michiel.

The first Google search found this document.

https://archives.library.illinois.edu/erec/University%20Archives/3503065/VermillionRiverObservatory.pdf

A great read on a fabulous instrument!

Rob Arrowsmith

ASV Radio Astronomy Section

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[Michiel Klaassen]

Hi Robert,

Yes I found that too, but does it still exist because( "And so VRO was closed in 1981" ). ; I could not find it on google maps.

Michiel

parac.eu

Op ma 8 mrt. 2021 om 11:45 schreef Robert Arrowsmith <robertarr...@gmail.com>:

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[James H Van Prooyen]

Hi

This antenna no longer exists,

for it's day it was a very big radio telescope.

But the observatory does.

Hope that helps...

Jim Van Prooyen

gr...@sbaglobal.net

[George Williams]

You can see the location on this map-

https://maps.roadtrippers.com/?lat=40.06020995901315&lng=-87.56068036703397&utm_campaign=map&utm_medium=share&utm_source=copy&z=15.315636670936605

On satellite view you can see the road leading to the building in the photo coming from the upper center. A rectangular area to the right, where the woods look a bit different, was where the telescope was. And, to the right of that, the circular area, was maybe where the 120 foot scope was- I didn't find any photos to show its location relative to the other scope.

A fun little hunt to start the morning,

George

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[jpett...@gmail.com]

Tony Willis :: "Memories of a Forgotten Radio Observatory: Vermilion River" - YouTube

 

An interesting talk on the history of the observatory.

 

Jonathan

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[Michiel Klaassen]

Thank you James, George and Jonathan; found it now. On google maps no live science to be seen; sad ,again.

Vermilion River Radio Observatory, Danville, Illinois 1360 north rd

Op ma 8 mrt. 2021 om 14:36 schreef <jpett...@gmail.com>:

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[jan Lustrup-LA3EQ]

If you go back in time to “1993” on Google Earth you can see a big dish is still there just off the road leading into the observatory.

Jan Lustrup

 

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[kshoe...@aol.com]

I was there in the 80s when it was just getting closed down.  It was a 600' cylindrical reflector with multiple feeds that looked like they would work around 400 MHz.  They were dipoles that were attached to a mechanical mechanism that allowed all of the dipoles to be adjusted in polarization.  The entire structure was made of wood with the exception of the reflector.  At that time, no one was allowed to climb on it as they were concerned about its safety.  George Swenson was the director of the observatory and the 120' foot fully steerable reflector was used for VLBI operations.

Kevin Shoemaker

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[superkuh]

The valley they laid the wire grid over to make the parabolic reflector eroded away from parabolic pretty quickly. It only took a handful of years before it was burying itself and not operational. It hasn't existed for many decades.

I love this instrument observatory because the feeds were all very broadband conical spiral antenna. The university of Illinois has some really cool photo archives of them. https://ece.illinois.edu/about/history/antenna/photos

>University of Illinois radio telescope used to map extra-galactic sources, a 400 x 600 foot cylindrical parabolic reflector made by covering a shaped-earth excavation with asphalt and wire screen. A catwalk at 155 feet above the ground supports about 400 conical log-spiral antennas along the focal line. Scanning in one plane was achieved by the earth's rotation; in the other plane by physically rotating the circularly polarized spirals. The log-spiral antennas were designed by Prof. J. D. Dyson, the feed system was designed by Prof. Y. T. Lo.

[superkuh]

I forgot to include a link to the youtube presentation on the observatory. "Tony Willis :: "Memories of a Forgotten Radio Observatory: Vermilion River"" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPwHjM9BkzU (15 minutes long).

[George Williams]

I came across this article which describes the part VRRO played in UHF Channel 37 being dedicated to radio astronomy.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8by7/why-channel-37-doesnt-exist-and-what-it-has-to-do-with-aliens

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[Hamish Barker]

an interesting article, thanks George!

I can certainly see parallels with the current case of spacx starlink interfering with optical and radio astronomy.

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