Reber could only use his radio telescope at times of the day when there were hardly any automobiles out. This was because at the wavelength the telescope was set at, the sparks in the engine of an automobile caused interference (2).

    When Reber surveyed the skies with his radio telescope, he would record his data in the form of a counter map. On the counter map, it showed the brightest parts as being the Milky Way. He also discovered the Cygnus and Cassiopeia as other bright spots on the counter maps for the first time.

Reber published some of the results of his surveys in both engineering journals and astronomy journals from 1938-1943. The accomplishments of Reber made astronomy become a major field of study after World War II. His telescope became the building block, so to speak, of the building of and research with other radio telescopes.

Grote Reber’s radio telescope now remains at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, as a historical monument. It was put onto a turntable to enable it to move and point in any direction (4).

Emission

     Contrary to the theory of thermal radiation, Reber had discovered that the radio power was weak at a high frequency. The theory of thermal radiation applies to the light from stars, and predicts, just the opposite of what Reber found, that the radio emission or power increases with the frequency (4).