Radio Astronomy in School

Suceava “Ştefan cel Mare” State University Planetarium / Observatory

Cezar Leşanu

www.hardhack.org.au

Electromagnetic spectrum

Atmospheric electromagnetic opacity

www.wikipedia.com

We highlight some radio astronomy projects promoted by renowned institutions around the Globe, relatively accessible in terms of level of knowledge required, availability of the equipment, and investment.

These projects are addressed to high school and university students as well as to amateur astronomers, and involve the participants in a wide range of hands-on activities, from building, assembling, and calibrating the hardware setup to analyzing and sharing the data over the internet, all in a interdisciplinary learning process.

• is a non-profit scientific, educational corporation, founded in 1989 by a team of NASA employees

• investigation of very low frequency (VLF = 0 Hz to over 100 kHz) radio signals in the earth's magnetosphere

• These signals are both manmade and naturally occurring (most of which originate from lightning)

Interactive NASA Space Physics Ionosphere Radio Experiments"

INSPIRE VLF3 receiver kit

Field observation setup:

• INSPIRE VLF3 receiver with stereo cable

• Portable cassette tape recorder with headphones

• Whip antenna • Ground stake

http://www.tnskynet.com

Links

• INSPIRE project home page

http://theinspireproject.org/

• “Listening to Northern Lights” Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHvdZdsIZxg

• Live VLF Natural Radio Streaming http://abelian.org/vlf

Radio Meteor Observation

• meteoroids disintegrate at an altitude of 80 to 130 km

• the trails they leave behind are full of ionized gases that reflect radio waves

• distant VHF(30MHz-300MHz) radio signals can bounce off the meteor trail (forward scattering method)

• can monitor meteor activity regardless the weather conditions and at daytime

Radio detection of meteors

Transmitter

Continuous wave

(FM carrier)

Receiving station

Radio Meteor Observation Experimental setup

FM radio receiver with digital frequency readout

( SSB receiver

Black box

+ PC interface

+ PC soundcard )

Radio detection of meteors at “Nights of Perseids” festival,Horodnic 2008/2009.

Radio Meteor Observatory On Line at USV

Links

• International Meteor Organization http://www.imo.net

/radio • The G7IZU Radio Reflection Detection Page

http://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/

• “Meteormania” Video – BBC 4 TVhttp://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/video/meteormania.wmv

• Radio Meteor Observatory's On Line http://www.rmob.org/index.php

• is an education project to build and distribute inexpensive ionospheric monitors to students around the world

• the monitors detect solar flares and other ionospheric disturbances

• Earth's ionosphere reacts strongly to the intense x-ray and ultraviolet radiation released by the Sun during a solar event

• the signal strength from a distant VLF transmitter, reflected by ionosphere, will follow this changes

SID Sudden Ionosphere Disturbance monitor

Super SID Receiver - simple and low-cost

“wire-loop antenna”

Super SID

(New SDR based VLF receiver)

Links

• Stanford Space Weather Monitor program http://solar-center.stanford.edu/sid.html

• Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers

http://www.radio-astronomy.org/node/142

• Tennessee SkyNet Observatory

http://www.tnskynet.com/SID-VLF.php

NASA Radio Jove Project

• was conceived in 1997 by a team headed by Jim Thieman at Goddard Space Flight Center

• sold its first receiver kit 1999 (10th anniversary – almost 1400 kits sold)

• observe and analyze natural radio emissions of Jupiter (bursts), the Sun (Solar flares), and our galaxy (transit)

• Frequency of operation 20.1 MHz• Receiver type: direct conversion

(a hamradio transceiver can be used – expensive)• Antenna: dipol λ/2 or phased dipol or multi-element

phased dipole antenna

http://fringes.org/

Radio-SkyPipe Software - An Internet Enabled Strip Chart Recorder

http://www.radiosky.com

Radio Jove at ATLANTYKRON Summer Academy 200550th anniversary of the discovery of Jupiter's natural radio emissions

Links

• NASA Radio Jove Projecthttp://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/

• The Internet Jupiter Radio Observatory Kochi JPhttp://jupiter.kochi-ct.jp/

• Radio bursts from Jupiter video - CFAROhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6wkt_8a-6A

• Radio burst from the Sun – CFAROhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smuHQzDy3i0

Small total power radio telescope

Offset TV satellite dish

Power Supply

14-18V DCAnalog satellite finder

(modified)

LNB

Computer + data logging software

Data acquisition board

• Detect microwaves emitted by the Sun and approximate the temperature at 11GHz (chromosphere)

• Detect microwaves emitted by the human body or any other object of sufficiently high temperature.

First test - 2006

Meridian transit of the Sun at 11GHz (Ku band)

Suceava Panetarium 2009

Panaci 2009

The Internet Solar Radio Observatory Imai Laboratory, Kochi National College of Technology, Japan

http://sun.kochi-ct.jp/e/observatory.html

Links

• MIT Very Small Radio Telescope (VSRT)  http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/VSRT/index.html

• Radio Astronomy on 11 GHz at ISUhttp://astro.u-strasbg.fr/~koppen/10GHz/index.html

• The Internet Solar Radio Observatory http://sun.kochi-ct.jp/e/observatory.html