Last week
a couple of high powered radio
telescopes managed to take some pictures of
an asteroid passing near the Earth. I got to wondering just how they managed this, being as the asteroid (2011 UW 158) was millions of miles away. Seems they used a 20 terawatt radar signal which came from a pair of Litton Klystrons. A
klystron is a device for generating high power microwaves. It's the big brother to the
magnetron found in microwave ovens. But what's this '
Litton'? That name sounds vaguely familiar. Well, it should.
It was a giant defense conglomerate. Started by
Charles Litton, but driven to success by
Tex Thornton. Tex
was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in October, 1981.
Actual information about the radar gear at Arecibo is sparse and hard to come by. The
web site is sadly neglected. An inquiry to the
Wikipedia Reference Desk finally produced
a useful, if outdated, link. Makes me wonder if information on high powered radar is a matter of national security.
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