Ukrainian T-shaped Radio telescope, second modification
The Ukrainian T-shaped Radio telescope, second modification (official abbreviation UTR-2) is the world's largest low-frequency radio telescope at decametre wavelengths. It was completed in 1972 near the village of Hrakovo (49°38′N 36°56′E / 49.633°N 36.933°E / 49.633; 36.933 ), 15 km west-south-west from Shevchenkove, Ukraine. The telescope is operated by the Institute of Radio Astronomy of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
The UTR-2 consists of an array of 2040 dipole elements in two arms each containing 6 rows of elements, oriented in a T shape: a north–south arm consisting of 1440 elements covering an area of 1800×60 meters, and an east–west arm consisting of 600 elements covering an area of 900×60 meters. The basic element is a broadband cage dipole 1.8 m in diameter and 8 m long made of galvanized steel wire, mounted 3.5 m above the ground, with a balun to connect it to the transmission line. The dipoles are all oriented along the east–west axis, with the spacing between rows of 7.5 m in east–west direction and 9 m in north–south. It has a total area of 150,000 square metres (1,600,000 sq ft), and a resolution of about 40 arcminutes at the middle frequency 16.7 MHz. The operating frequency range is 8–33 MHz. The sensitivity is about 10 mJy.
The telescope is a part of the URAN (Ukrainian Radio Interferometer of NASU) decametric VLBI system, which includes another four significantly smaller low-frequency radio telescopes. That system has bases from 40 to 900 km (25 to 960 mi).
