Maintaining and using the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope – the world’s oldest rotatable 25-meter radio telescope – that is the mission of CAMRAS.
Anyone walking or cycling on the Dwingelderveld near Lhee in the vicinity of Dwingeloo will see a monumental steel structure at the edge of the forest: the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope, put into operation by Queen Juliana in 1956 and, at that time, the largest radio telescope in the world. Since 1998, this huge instrument on the silent heath is no longer used by professional scientists for astronomical research.
In 2007, the ASTRON Foundation – the owner of the radio telescope – has signed a lease agreement with the CAMRAS Foundation, so the telescope can be retained, used and visited again. Since then, the CAMRAS volunteers have refurbished the old instrument and made it operational. In 2009, the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope became a national monument: a unique instrument from the post-war reconstruction period.
As a result, CAMRAS can now open the telescope to visitors, youth, education, amateur astronomers, radio amateurs and other interested parties. Thanks to our enthusiastic volunteers, donators and sponsors, we can continue to do so.
Manuel Steinbrecher
