Radio Astronomy Basics

Radio Astronomy Basics

Radio Telescope Antenna Beams and Sidelobes
RFI

Terminology

A Radio Telescope
Antenna in two stages Dish: Radio waves from space are reflected to a focus Feed: Antenna at focus converts radio waves to electrical signal A receiver at the focus amplifies the electrical signal

Electronics convert the electrical signal to a lower frequency Other electronics process the electrical signal

64 meter (210) Telescope Parkes, Australia

A Radio Telescope
Mainly sensitive in a small field of view Less than one millionth of the sky for a large antenna This area is also called the beam Must move telescope to make radio image

A Radio Telescope
Main lobe Side lobe Side lobe

A radio telescope will pick up strong signals from many directions Radio Frequency Interference

Radio Astronomy Terms

Electromagnetic Wave
Produced by accelerating charged particles X-rays, ultraviolet, visible, infrared and radio are forms of electromagnetic waves

Noise
Lots of charged particles in random motion generate waves of random frequencies and amplitudes Example: electrons in a resistor
Noise increases with temperature of the resistor

Radio Astronomy Terms

Signal
EM waves at particular frequencies & times

System Temperature Tsys

A measure of the noise generated in a radio telescope, receiver, and electronics Tsys is a major factor determining the sensitivity of a radio astronomy experiment

Radio Astronomy Terms

Flux Density watts / (m2 Hz)
power per unit area per unit bandwidth 1 Jansky (Jy) = 10-26 w/m2Hz VERY Strong source, Cas A = 2500 Jy
supernova remnant at ~1.1x104 light years

Strong radio source: 3C295 = 23 Jy

Seyfert galaxy at ~5x109 light years

ATA can detect sources to ~ 1 mJy

depends on integration time and bandwidth

Radio Astronomy Terms

Sensitivity minimum detectable flux
N k Tsys Smin = -----------Ae (bt)0.5 Smin minimum detectable flux N signal to noise ratio to make detection k Boltzmans constant (1.38 x 10-23 watts / K) Tsys system temperature Ae effective area (efficiency geometric area) b bandwidth observed t integration time (length of the observation)