The Medicina Radio Astronomical Station is an observatory managed by INAF (National Institute for Astrophysics). Located 30 km from Bologna, it hosts two radio telescopes: the first Italian radio telescope, the Northern Cross – owned by the University of Bologna – and a 32-m parabolic dish.
Several laboratories are present, dedicated to topics such as: radio frequency, electronics, time and frequency and RFI. A team of engineers, technicians and researchers is in charge of the design, development and test of all the aspects related to the radio telescopes, in particular as concerns their mechanics, radio frequency devices, digital systems and control software.
There is a second 32-m parabolic antenna, very similar to the Medicina one, located in Noto (Siracusa, Sicily). In addition, IRA has extensively taken part to the design and construction of a new 64-m dish antenna: the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) inaugurated in San Basilio (Cagliari, Sardinia) in 2013.
Following the links below, it is possible to get more information about Radio Astronomical Station, its facilities and some educational resources.
