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Flying WV
West Virginia University · Radio Astronomy Instrumentation Laboratory DSPIRA

Module

Observing

What to do once it is built and the software runs.

10 lessons, in the order they are meant to be worked through

Two observers running a horn telescope from camp chairs in a field.

Once your horn and receiver work, these lessons introduce observing. Learn site selection, pointing, spectrum assessment, calibration against a known load, and interference recognition.

The telescope works in rural and urban locations with open sky. It also works in daylight and rain. Radio astronomy is not a clear-night hobby.

The module ends with two extensions to single-horn observing. First, turn drift scans into a sky map and rotation curve. Then add a second horn to make an interferometer.

Two operating procedures are documented as PDFs rather than as lessons:

For what an interferometer is actually good for, see Interferometry in the Astronomy module.

10 lessons in this module

  1. What is a Horn Telescope?

    Overview of what makes up a horn telescope and what it detects

  2. What Can a Horn Telescope Measure?

    An overview of what a horn telescope detects

  3. Setting up the Telescope

    Details on setting up the telescope for use

  4. Horn Telescope Spectrometer Description

    Description of the spectrometer_w_cal.grc program features

  5. Running the spectrometer_w_cal.grc Program

    Instructions on how to use the spectrometer_w_cal.grc program in GNU Radio

  6. Instructions on Running spectrometer_w_cal

    Instructions on how to use the *spectrometer_w_cal* program

  7. How to Calibrate the Horn Telescope

    The procedure for calibrating the telescope using the spectrometer_w_cal program is outlined.

  8. Horn Operation Tutorials

    Documents and videos explaining the operation of the horn telescope

  9. Observations - Mapping the Sky and Measuring the Rotation Curve

    Reduce the data your telescope produces - a drift map of the sky, and the rotation curve of the Milky Way

  10. Setting Up a 2 Horn Interferometer

    Details of setting up 2 horns for doing interferometry

All lessons