Daily Image
03-03-2014
A Moonbounce Wedding by the Dwingeloo Telescope
| Submitter: | Jan Noordam |
| Description: | They say that young lovers are "over the Moon" with happiness. Last Valentine's Day (14 feb 2014), our Andre van Es and Marit Gant took this almost literally by allowing the momentous words "I do" to strike home via the the silvery face of the Goddess of Romance. As a bonus, the Moon itself threw in a special blessing. Things were done by modulating a powerful radio beam with the marital vows, and bouncing it off the Lunar surface(*), 380.000 km away. After demodulation, the words came back loud and clear, leaving zero room for doubt as to their intention. The 2.5 sec delay was entirely due to the travel time to the Moon and back, and not to any hesitation on the part of the newlyweds. As far as we know, this is a first. It was an opportunity for the members of CAMRAS(**) to express their appreciation for their Chairman. The ceremony was officiated over by Moon-bouncer Jan van Muijlwijk, under the benevolent smile of ASTRON Director Mike Garrett. See also the charming video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3z8TwGwrY (*) This technique is also used, with somewhat larger radio telescopes and more powerful transmitters, to bounce signals off nearby asteroids, and even the planet Venus. (**) The C.A.Muller Radio Astronomy Station (CAMRAS) is an organisation of radio enthousiasts who are using the venerable 25m radio telescope on the edge of the Dwingeloo heath for scientific experiments and outreach. More information may be gleaned by clicking on "Archive" at the top of this webpage, and searching with the keyword "CAMRAS". Or, alternatively, by means of the following link |
| Copyright: | Andre van Es / Jan van Muijlwijk |
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