J. Ishitsuka: A new astronomical facility for Peru: transforming a 32m-antenna into a radio telescope

There are some big antennae around that are not used anymore, because communication has been replaced by other means. Making telescopes out of them requires expertise which not necessarily available. For this project in Peru, they collaborated with japanese astronomers.

The tansformation of this satellite communication antenna shall start radio astronomy in Peru, create radio anstronomers by gathering knowlege and of course promote international collaborations. The antenna is good enough to go up to 2.2 GHz and the site is high up, remote and has good conditions. The location on the globe also makes it interesting for Very Long Baseline Interferometry. They have a working reciever and are well underway.