Postage stamps: industry and technology - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1976 - 500 Pfennig

A new postage stamp continuous series with illustrations from industry and technology replaces the postage stamp continuous series »Federal President Heinemann« with a total of 14 values. 500 Pf: Radio Telescope The brand image shows the fully mobile radio telescope near Effelsberg, a district of Bad Münstereifel. The radio telescope, a high-precision receiving antenna, is used to receive the electromagnetic radiation coming from outer space up to a minimum wavelength of 0.8 cm. Due to the large diameter and high accuracy of the reflector as well as modern helium cooled receivers, signals can be received from distances of 12 billion light years (in 1.5 seconds, the light covers the distance Earth-Moon, which is about 450,000 km). In terms of performance, this giant telescope thus surpasses the largest systems built so far by a factor of ten. The geographical location of the radio telescope was chosen so that the extremely weak received signals are hardly affected by terrestrial noise. The reflector of 100 m diameter is a paraboloid of revolution. It is tiltable about the elevation axis and rotatable about wheels and a rail.