"Located 25 miles from the front lines in Ukraine is the world's largest low-frequency radio telescope. Its technical name is UTR-2, and to the untrained eye, its more than 2,000 antennas and diamond shape might resemble a gigantic art installation. But UTR-2 was a Soviet astronomy project to decipher the formation of galaxies. Half a century after it entered operation, the Russian invasion has left it disconnected from the stars."
"Igor Bubnov was one of the astronomers at UTR-2 until Russian troops occupied it in the winter of 2022. In their counteroffensive the following summer in the Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian army liberated the radio telescope. However, the fighting had damaged its infrastructure. Its facilities are located in the heart of a war zone and are too close to the enemy, says Bubnov, so restarting it would be foolish."
"Bubnov was unable to return to UTR-2 and transferred his position to URAN-2, another low-frequency radio telescope built by the USSR in the 1970s, this one located in the Poltava region, 60 miles from the Russian border. Bubnov and his colleagues at the National Institute of Radio Astronomy of Ukraine continue to operate from URAN-2 and two other telescopes in the Volhynia region (in the west,"
UTR-2, situated 25 miles from the front lines, comprises more than 2,000 antennas in a diamond layout and was built to study galaxy formation. Russian troops occupied UTR-2 in winter 2022 and subsequent fighting during a Ukrainian counteroffensive damaged its infrastructure. The facility remains too close to the enemy and lies in the heart of a war zone, preventing safe restart. Astronomer Igor Bubnov relocated to URAN-2 in the Poltava region, and teams at the National Institute of Radio Astronomy of Ukraine continue observations from URAN-2 and telescopes in Volhynia and Odesa to study galaxies and the solar system.
Read at english.elpais.com
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