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The Nançay Decimetric Radio Telescope (official abbreviation NRT) is located in the small town of Nançay, two hours' drive south of Paris, France. The radio telescope saw first light in 1965, after an inauguration by the then French president, Charles de Gaulle.
The NRT is a transit instrument of the unusual Kraus-type design where the flat primary reflects radio light towards the spherical secondary, which focuses it towards a mobile focal carriage. The primary tilts North-South to select any object near the meridian, while the focal carriage moves East-West along railroad ties to track objects for roughly an hour within transit. The Kraus-type design, named after Dr. John D. Kraus (1910-2004), is also used at the Ohio State University Big Ear Telescope.
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External links
- Nançay Observatory (http://www.obs-nancay.fr/a_index.htm) (in English) - official site