> Begin forwarded message: > 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 > > 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 > > I recently attended an ALphA immersion workshop by Prof. Carl Akerlof > <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 > > 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 > > Cygnus > > 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 > > 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 > > 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 > > 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
