Who we are

The Yebes Observatory is a Spanish Unique Scientific and Technical Infrastructure (ICTS) for astronomy and the only one in Castilla-La Macha. It belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Urban Mobility and is attached to the National Geographic Institute.(IGN).

 

40-meter radio telescope. The observatory’s main research instrument. Used for single-dish and VLBI observations as part of several international networks.

 

13.2-meter radio telescope. We are part of the International VLBI System VGOS and EU-VGOS projects

 

Our amplifier laboratories are a world reference in the design, measurement and manufacture of low noise cryogenic amplifiers.

 

More than 30 years of experience building radio astronomy cryogenic receivers.

 

Anechoic chamber for antenna and feed measurements.

 

Gravimetry hall. We monitor Earth’s gravity and seismic activity.

It has two world-class radio telescopes and is internationally recognised for the quality of its instruments. It houses a leading centre for technological developments in the field of radio astronomy.It has the necessary observation techniques (VLBI, GNSS and SLR) and auxiliary equipment (gravimeters and a colocalisation network), which will enable it to become a fundamental geodetic station in the near future.

Yebes is a village in the province of Guadalajara located in the Alcarria, a plateau criss-crossed by valleys where vegetation typical of the dry Mediterranean climate grows. Construction of the observatory began in 1975 and it occupies a 25-hectare plot of land. Its location was chosen because it is dry, at an altitude of 980 m above sea level and far from the light and radio pollution of Madrid.

The Yebes Observatory is familiarly known as Yebes in international forums and congresses on radio astronomy and space geodesy, thanks to the technological developments carried out at its Observatory, its two active radio telescopes of 40 metres and 13.2 metres in diameter and its outreach activities.

Entre el Cielo y La Tierra (Revista del Ministerio de Fomento, No. 694, pp. 3-11).

Observatory location