Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, just like visible light.

Although a radio telescope doesn’t look shiny, if you were a radio wave it would look just like a mirror! Radio waves bounce off of the surface of a radio telescope and are reflected to central focus.  There the signal is amplified, and sent to an ‘analog to digital converter.’  The digital description of the incoming radiation is then sent to powerful computers that can make pictures of the sky or search for signals from extraterrestrial intelligences.