Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Radio Astronomy SIG
[NOTE: Participation in Special Interest
Groups is limited to MAS members only. For information about
joining the MAS, please visit the membership
page at www.mnastro.org/membership.]
Purpose
[NOTE: This SIG is currently inactive. MAS members interested in
leading this group and re-starting this SIG should express their interest to the
Society's Executive Board (masboard@mnastro.org).]
Coordinator's Welcome
Why Amateur Radio Astronomy?
Because an amateur radio astronomer allows you to look at broad area of
the sky for long periods of time. Unlike a large professional telescope,
which only looks at a particular part of the sky. We've also got about 65%
of our knowledge of the sky from radio astronomy. Amateur radio astronomy
also made discoveries like black holes, quasars
, pulsars, some basic chemical like hydrogen, and it's make more and more
believers of the "Big Bang" theory.
What can you do in Amateur Radio Astronomy?
You can listen to Jupiter, hunt for Solar Flares, count meteors, imaging
(which involves a large antenna array, find ET, and much, much more. Finding
ET has yet to happen and takes many years study and confirmation and it might
not happen in our life time.
A radio telescope is basically an energy measuring device. You can put
together a radio telescope yourself or with some help. It's basically some
kind of an antenna, a sensitive radio, and a recording device. If you'd
like to know more, please some up on our
email list
.
Upcoming Meetings / Events
N/A
We usually meet the second weekend of the month.
The next date will be Friday, April 11 or 12 as back up, 2003 at 6:00p.m..
Topic will be "General Discussion"
Topics will be:
-
Introduction
- What You Know About Radio Astronomy
-
Observatory Radios
-
Observatory Location
-
Funds
Go to the Metcalf
website for directions and a map. That weekend is also the first Metcalf
Star Party of the year.
SIG Update
Radio Jove is now up and running. Radio Jove is a receiver tuned to 20.1
MHz specifically designed for receiving Jupiter's noise storms. When we
can't hear Jupiter we can also use it to monitor sun activity. We can detect
solar flares and lighting from up coming storms. If you'd like to learn
more, visit the Onan observatory on Friday, July 18 and it's a "Fair Weather"
event. Or, just email me at the email adresss below, or go to Radio Jove's
website, just follow the link below.
SIG Members Web Sites
Here are our current radio telescope systems:
Our favorite sites:
Useful Resources on the Internet
Here's some books that you can check out (by MAS members only):
- "The ARRL's FCC Rule Book" by the ARRL
- "FM Atlas 18th Edition" by Bruce F. Elving
- "An Introduction to Radio Astronomy" by Bernard F. Burke
- "The Outer Space Frequency Directory" by Anthony R. Curtis
- "Radio Astronomy" by Adele D. Richardson
- "Radio Astronomy Teachers Notebook" edited by Jim
Sky
- "Radioscience Observing Volume 1" by Joseph J. Carr
Barnes
and Noble Radio Astronomy books
E-mail Discussion List Instructions
The purpose of the list is to facilitate communication among
members of the SIG.
To join the group, visit http://lists.mnastro.org/mnastro/listinfo/radio
and follow the instructions. Use this site to manage your
subscription as well, such as temporarily suspending your
subscription or canceling it. A link to an archive of all
prior messages is available on this page, or you can access the
archives directly by pointing your browser to http://lists.mnastro.org/pipermail/radio/.
Contact Information:
For more information regarding this Special Interest Group,
please contact:
N/A
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