+ Advantages

• Weather
Radio astronomy can be done from the earth without being too much affected by the weather (although the quality of the observations is better with good weather)! However, there is now also a radio antenna in space, to further improve the resolution of the observations.

• Day and night
Radio telescopes observe day and night (although for some observations the influence of the sun is negative!)

• Hydrogen
About 90 % of the visible matter in the Universe is Hydrogen (wavelength : 21.106114 cm). With a radio telescope we can study the most abundant element in the Universe.

• No absoption
Radio waves are not affected by absorption. Optical waves are absorbed by e.g. dust clouds that are floating between the stars (like a sort of interstellar fog ). Radio telescopes see straight through these dust clouds.

- Disadvantages

• Resolution
On the negative side, to get good quality images that show all the details of the celestial objects it is more complicated than, e.g. at optical wavelengths. This has to do with long wavelengths of radio waves. To get good angular resolution requires large telescopes.

• Complicated procedure
A complicated procedure is required to produce the images of the observed objects (in other words, the observer does not see the images straight away). This procedure uses very powerful computers and it is necessary because of the way the observations are done.

Go further: How does a radio telescope work?