The observatory was founded by Arthur Covington who directed the Observatory until 1978. Covington was also responsible for the expansion of the site and the construction of the 46m antenna. Operating at radio frequency, the giant parabolic dish focuses electromagnetic radiation towards the focus cabin mounted on four legs above the surface. The efficiency gained by the large reflecting surface enables the telescope to receive signals from Mars and to determine precisely the location of the telescope with respect to Pulsars in neighboring star systems. ARO was  the first telescope system to demonstrate Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) a technique that surpasses the accuracy of GPS and now enables the measurement of phenomena such as continental drift. The technique was reported in the Journal Science in 1967. Observations reported in Nature by Andrew and Purton provided an upper limit for the radio emission of supernova Delphini 1967. The observatory is credited with the discovery of cyanodiacetylene in the interstaller medium. Wikipedia provides further historical accounts of the Observatory's activities. The construction and operation of the observatory was reported in Solar Physics by Arthur Covington in 1969. The antenna is currently used for pulsar research,  space tracking and Deep Space Network communications. The antenna recently hosted York University's space engineering field school for students in their final year of a BaSc in Space Engineering. Students developed and executed tracking software to point the antenna and also helped in the revitalization project.