Radioastronomy at the speed of light
INAF’s radiotelescope at Noto, near Siracusa, plays a crucial role in European radioastronomy with its 32-meter dish, being one of the most southerly antennas in the European region. Since May 15, it is part of the international e-VLBI network. The VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry). "To become part of the e-VLBI network, a transfer rate of at least 1 gigabit per second is needed" says Mauro Nanni, of INAF's radioastronomy Institute, «We achieved it thanks to INAF, which provided funding for 130 km of optic fiber between Noto and Catania, and the GARR consortium, which manages the whole Italian network up to Milan». Meanwhile, Notos’ twin antenna at Medicina, near Bologna, which is already part of the e-VLBI network since 2006, has made its first observation using the new 10 Gbps link, thus matching the efficiency of Northern European antennas.