> Begin forwarded message:
> Alan,
>
> WOW! Your letter is a gold-mine of links to extremely capable, low cost,
> equipment and software to interest and educate a new generation. I knew
> you had been working on educational projects but did not realize the extent
> and capabilities. Great job!
>
> I was particularly impressed by:
> 1) The beautiful 2007 Report on galactic rotation by the Harvard
> students
> 2) The low cost interferometry experiments
> 3) Interesting solar measurements – limb brightening and time variation
> 4) The Michigan summer physics “immersion” program.
> 5) The “dongle” software-radio receiver and associated high resolution
> spectrometer
> 6) The software user interface.
>
> I will be thinking about how to implement some of this at Caltech. One
> quick question: What language is used for the software for new SRT
> telescope? Is it easy for me to run a simulation (or do I need to visit
> Haystack) ?
>
> Congratulations on doing such a wonderful job over many years!
>
> Sandy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Rogers [mailto:a...@haystack.mit.edu
> <mailto:a...@haystack.mit.edu>]
> Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 6:43 AM
> To: Sander Weinreb <swein...@caltech.edu <mailto:swein...@caltech.edu>>
> Cc: carl heiles <hei...@vermi.berkeley.edu
> <mailto:hei...@vermi.berkeley.edu>>; Alan Rogers <arog...@haystack.mit.edu
> <mailto:arog...@haystack.mit.edu>>; Dave Deboer <ddeb...@berkeley.edu
> <mailto:ddeb...@berkeley.edu>>; 'Han' <st...@kasi.re.kr
> <mailto:st...@kasi.re.kr>>; Steve Smith <ste...@caltech.edu
> <mailto:ste...@caltech.edu>>; Monroe, Ryan M (382F)
> <ryan.m.mon...@jpl.nasa.gov <mailto:ryan.m.mon...@jpl.nasa.gov>>
> Subject: Re: Educational 6m Radio Telescope at Caltech
>
> Dear Sandy,
> I can really only comment on the Small Radio Telescope (SRT) which uses
> a 2.3 m antenna and 1420 MHz receiver. With this antenna the key experiment
> is the measurement of Galactic rotation curve
>
> http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/SRT%20Memos/011.pdf
> <http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/SRT%20Memos/011.pdf>
>
> Here is report which includes Galactic rotation curve measured by Jim Moran's
> students in 2007
>
> http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/pdf/haystack_FINAL_2_8.pdf
> <http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/pdf/haystack_FINAL_2_8.pdf>
>
> I recently attended an ALphA immersion workshop by Prof. Carl Akerlof
> <aker...@outlook.physics.lsa.umich.edu
> <mailto:aker...@outlook.physics.lsa.umich.edu>> in which this experiment was
> done by several University faculty members interested in a Radio Astronomy
>
> http://www.advlab.org/imm2015_michigan_radioastronomy.html
> <http://www.advlab.org/imm2015_michigan_radioastronomy.html>
>
> The 2.3 m antenna has also been used to create a map the 21 cm hydrogen for
> the entire visible sky. Other projects include measuring the solar flux
>
> Hiep, N. V., et al. "Radio Observation of Solar-Activity-Related mHz
> Oscillations." Solar Physics 289.3 (2014): 939-950
>
> There has been some SRT interferometry
>
> Here are some links:
>
> Modeling the Solar Limb Brightening at 21 cm Using Amplitude and Closure
> Phase Measurements from a 3-Element Interferometer
>
> http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/SRT%20Memos/023.pdf
> <http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/SRT%20Memos/023.pdf>
>
> Cygnus
>
> www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/reu/2005/files/evarts.pdf
> <http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/reu/2005/files/evarts.pdf>
>
> Oberoi, D., E. R. Evarts, and A. E. E. Rogers. "High Temporal and Spectral
> Resolution Interferometric Observations of Unusual Solar Radio Bursts."
> Solar Physics 260.2 (2009): 389-400.
>
> With a 6m antenna you should be able to observe the 21 cm line in Andromeda
> and OH should observable. Also some of the strongest pulsars should be
> observable
>
> http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/materials/SSemission.pdf
> <http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/materials/SSemission.pdf>
>
> As far a user interface the SRT has a display of the sky vs azimuth and
> elevation. The objects displayed are those listed in a user catalog (which
> includes the Sun, Galactic plane etc.). The antenna position is also
> displayed. Clicking on a source moves the antenna to the source. Various
> on/off and scan modes are provided. The antenna and radiometer can also be
> run from a command file.
>
> Here is a very old manual
> http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/SRT%20Software/SRTManual.pdf
> <http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/SRT%20Software/SRTManual.pdf>
>
> Recently a similar interface was written by a REU student to point the 37m
> Haystack antenna for future radio astronomy observations. I don't necessarily
> recommend the SRT software because I don't write good well structured code
> but it can be downloaded and run in simulate mode to get a better idea of
> what it does. The "New" SRT uses a TV dongle for a receiver and an Alfa radio
> antenna controller.
>
> http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/index.html
> <http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/index.html>
>
> best regards Alan
>
> On Sun, 16 Aug 2015, Sander Weinreb wrote:
>
> >
> > Carl and Alan,
> >
> >
> >
> > I need some advice from old salts about how to demonstrate radio astronomy
> > observing techniques to new graduate students.
> >
> >
> >
> > We are paying some attention to the 6m telescope on the roof of the
> > EE building at Caltech and are trying to make it into a good
> > teaching instrument. The front-end covers 1.3 to 1.7 GHz with about 100K
> > Tsys on two linear polarizations and we recently installed a Roach 1
> > spectrometer with two 500 MHz bandwidth channels and 60 kHz resolution.
> > There is much RFI and a lesson we want to teach is how to work around it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Our weakest link is the software to integrate telescope pointing with
> > receiver output. We are working on developing a convenient system but I
> > wonder if it already exists on other small telescopes. Do you have any
> > suggestions for integrated telescope and data taking control system we
> > should look at?
> >
> >
> >
> > A second topic is what to observe with the telescope as
> > educational demonstrations. We can certainly map galactic hydrogen and
> > look at the stronger continuum sources. The spectrometer can cross
> > correlate the two linear polarizations and we could get into polarization
> > measurements. Do you have suggestion for observations?
> >
> >
> >
> > I would like to observe OH (again, since I have not observed it or
> > followed what has been done since 1963 !). Where is a good summary of
> > the observations? I think our 60 KHz resolution is too broad and we
> > will need to improve it by a factor of 10 or more.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sandy
> >
> >
> >
