Open Spectrum - Radio Astronomy Needs

Radio Astronomy Needs

Astronomers use many radio telescopes to look up at objects such as pulsars in our own Galaxy and at distant radio galaxies up to about half the distance of the observable sphere of our Universe. The use of radio frequencies for communication creates pollution from the point of view of astronomers, at best, creating noise or, at worst, totally blinding the astronomical community for certain types of observations of very faint objects. As more and more frequencies are used for communication, astronomical observations are getting more and more difficult.

Negotiations to defend the parts of the spectrum most useful for observing the Universe are mostly carried out by the international astronomical community, as a grassroots community effort, coordinated in the Scientific Committee on Frequency Allocations for Radio Astronomy and Space Science.