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Radio Astronomy: An Informal Talk

Radio Astronomy: An Informal Talk. Presented to the High School Students’ Science/Technology Conference 19 October 2007 by Dr. Harold Geller, GMU. What I’ll talk about. Telescopes Electromagnetic waves Radioastronomy basics NRAO at Green Bank, West Virginia

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Radio Astronomy: An Informal Talk

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  1. Radio Astronomy:An Informal Talk Presented to the High School Students’ Science/Technology Conference 19 October 2007 by Dr. Harold Geller, GMU

  2. What I’ll talk about • Telescopes • Electromagnetic waves • Radioastronomy basics • NRAO at Green Bank, West Virginia • Small Radio Telescope at George Mason University

  3. What does a telescope do? • Collect electromagnetic waves • Collecting ability proportional to the square of the diameter of the objective • Resolve electromagnetic sources • Related to the atmosphere, wavelength and curvature of the objective • Magnify surfaces of planets and the Moon • Magnification only of Moon, Sun and planets

  4. Looking Beyond the Eyes

  5. Optical Telescopes Reflector Refractor

  6. Different Views of Sun Sun in Hydrogen-alpha Sun in X-ray

  7. Radio Astronomy Basics

  8. A Little More Detail

  9. Jansky’s Original Radiotelescope

  10. Grote Reber’s Telescope

  11. 170 foot Diameter Radio-telescope at Green Bank, WV

  12. The 100-meter Green Bank Telescope

  13. Even Bigger than you Think

  14. Jupiter in Radio

  15. Saturn in Radio

  16. 3C296 Radio/Optical Composite

  17. A Vision for George Mason (based upon Univ. Indianapolis)

  18. Small Radio Telescope Justification • Radio science observations in the L-band • L-band lies in the 1400-1427 MHz region of the electromagnetic spectrum • detection of what astronomers call the 21-cm line of hydrogen • this is a portion of the hydrogen spectrum, in the radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is generated by the neutral hydrogen clouds in the interstellar medium

  19. Small Radio Telescope Justification • Observations in C-band, which is 4313-4338 MHz and 3788-3813 MHz • Radio science observations in the C-band allow for the radio emission examination of the moon, which acts as a body at a temperature of 200 K. • Students will be able to scan the moon, and detect the estimated 6000 joules of energy from the lunar surface.

  20. GMU SRT Background • Funding • National Science Foundation • education portion of grant won by Dr. Rita Sambruna • Order History • ordered first week of June 2002 • stated 12 week delivery time • received 15 October 2002 • damaged antenna

  21. GMU SRT Background Part II • Order History • boxes damaged • FedEx insurance inspector called and visited to assess damage - refused claim • replacement parts to be shipped by vendor • Base assembled on roof • 1 November 2002 • Remaining electronics and replacement antenna parts received 30 January 2003

  22. Did You Say Fragile?

  23. Picking Up the Pieces on the Roof

  24. Whistle While You Work

  25. Tolerance

  26. Cleanup On The Roof

  27. The Base Of SRT

  28. Servo Motors Attachment

  29. Servos with Ring Assembly

  30. Dish/Receiver Assembly

  31. Readying for Final Mechanical Assembly

  32. From Mechanical to Electrical

  33. Assembled and Ready to Test

  34. Sample Data

  35. Even Smaller - Radio Jove

  36. Small Radio Science Demonstration Projects • Undergraduate research • Steve Richardson • web site built with some results from data acquired using U of Indianapolis • http://physics.gmu.edu/~arichar6/radio/index.html • prepared presentation for GMU “innovations” fair • prepared presentation for CPAC meeting at Bucknell University

  37. Really Smoothing

  38. Playing With The Data

  39. A Potpourri Of Color

  40. Family Portrait(radioastronomy conference)

  41. Radio Astronomy Observatory at George Mason University

  42. Looking To The Future

  43. GMU Optical Observatory

  44. OnLine References • http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/intro/image.index.html • http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/intro/faq.html • http://donald.phast.umass.edu/~fcrao/education/report1.html • http://www.haystack.mit.edu/ • http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/radioastronomy/ • http://www.bambi.net/sara.html • http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/

  45. Book References • Radio Astronomy by John D. Kraus • An Introduction to Radio Astronomy by Bernard Burke • The Amateur Radio Astronomer’s Handbook by John Potter Shields • Radio Astronomy for the Amateur by David Heiserman • Radio Astronomy (Above and Beyond) by Adele Richardson

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