The Radio Astronomy Lab (RAL) is an Organized Research Unit (ORU) within the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley. It was founded by faculty member Harold Weaver in 1958. Until 2012, RAL maintained a radio astronomy observatory at Hat Creek, near Mt. Lassen.[1] It continues to support on-campus laboratory facilities in Campbell Hall. From 1998 to 2012, the RAL collaborated with the SETI Institute of Mountain View California to design, build and operate the Allen Telescope Array (ATA).
RAL has been central to the creation of several radio observatories, including:
- Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO),
- the Allen Telescope Array (ATA),
- the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) array,
- the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) array,
- the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) array
Research interests
edit- Millimeter-wavelength interferometry
- Very long baseline interferometry
- Low-frequency radio interferometry targeting the Epoch of Reionization
- Pulsars and other radio transients
- Digital signal processing (DSP) instrumentation
Directors
edit- Carl Heiles (director, 2010–current)[2]
- Donald Backer (director, 2008–2010), deceased
- Leo Blitz (director, 1996–2008)
- William "Jack" Welch (director, 1972–1996), retired
- Harold Weaver (director, 1958–1972), retired
Current faculty
editCurrent faculty include:[3]
Senior scientific staff
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Radio Astronomy Laboratory". UC Berkeley Regents.
- ^ Sanders, Robert (13 April 2012). "UC Berkeley passes management of Allen Telescope Array to SRI". UC Berkeley News Center. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
- ^ "RAL People". UC Berkeley Regents. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
- ^ "RAL People". UC Berkeley Regents. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
