The Yebes Observatory is located in the municipality of Yebes in the province of Guadalajara, just 80 km away from Madrid, at an altitude of 930 m.
It is managed by the Yebes Astronomical Centre, a unit of the Spanish National Geographic Institute dedicated to the development and construction of instrumentation in the field of radio astronomy and the implementation of astronomical observations of astronomical, geodetic and geophysical interest.
The 40 m radio telescope is one of the most critical nodes in the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network and among the largest scientific facilities in the world. It is also a station of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry.
The centre has four main components:
- a large radio telescope with a diameter of 40 m,
- a 13.2 m radio telescope of the RAEGE network, together with the network's headquarters,
- an anechoic chamber capable of working at very high frequencies,
- a relative (superconducting) and absolute gravimetry pavilion.
It also features laboratories and workshops for the design, development and construction of advanced radio astronomy equipment.
