Citizen science with radio telescopes
The LightWork Memo Series
Numbered memoranda on building and running radio telescopes, written by the people doing it and meant to be used by anyone who wants to have a go. Contributions are welcome; Memo 000 says how.
- Memos published
- 31
- Numbered through
- 37
- Since
- 2017
Why a memo series
This series is intended to encourage the public in the United States and throughout the world to collaborate on the design, construction and operation of radio telescopes, for the purpose of furthering science, engineering and education. It is motivated by the effect a focused memo series can have on organising the design and construction of large astronomical facilities.
The title has two implications. The first is that this series concerns work with radio-wavelength light. The second is that those developing the telescopes will grow a large collaboration, and make a significant contribution to the world's understanding of the universe. Many hands make LightWork.
The memos
Numbered in the order they were written. Some numbers were never used and are marked as gaps rather than closed up, so if you are looking for memo 12, it does not exist. A few of the larger PDFs will need downloading; GitHub will not preview them all in the browser.
-
000
Memo inviting contributions to the LightWork Memo Series
Guidelines for the series, and an invitation to contribute to the topic of citizen science with radio telescopes.
- 001 PDF
- 002 PDF
- 003 PDF
- 004 PDF
-
005
never used
- 006 PDF
-
007
never used
- 008 PDF
- 009 PDF
- 010 PDF
-
011
never used
-
012
never used
-
013
never used
- 014 PDF
- 015 PDF
- 016 PDF
-
017
never used
- 018 PDF
- 019 PDF
- 020 PDF
- 021 PDF
- 022 PDF
-
023
Event capture with the ADALM PlutoUnder construction
-
024
Milky Way Galaxy armed and dangerousUnder construction
- 025 PDF
-
026
Calibration and imaging stepsUnder construction
-
027
Event detection with four hornsUnder construction
- 028 PDF
- 029 PDF
-
030
A tale of three DSPIRA LNAs
Construction and analysis of three very high sensitivity versions of the WVU RAIL low-noise amplifiers for radio astronomy.
- 031 PDF
-
032
Gather a pail of Milky Way
Construction guide for a very small, very sensitive horn radio telescope.
-
033
arXiv
A high school student's radio telescope and observationsStart here
A remarkably clear description of building a radio telescope and observing with it. Published on arXiv rather than in this repository.
-
034
Guide to building a Pail-of-Milky-Way telescope baseSuperseded
Construction guide for easily pointing a horn radio telescope.
-
035
Guide to building a cone horn telescopeStart here
Construction guide for an even simpler and more sensitive radio telescope.
-
036
Updated telescope base for the cone hornStart here
Simpler to build than the base in memo 34, and works with the cone horn.
-
037
Finding pointing offsets from 24 hours of observationsAnnounced
Named and numbered by its author; the PDF has not been contributed yet.
Videos
A few recordings that illustrate parts of the memos.
-
Glen Langston — Galactic Perspective
Introduction to the series.
-
See a radio telescope discover the arms of the Milky Way
A calibrated telescope resolving galactic structure.
-
Sophie and Evan introduce GNU Radio
First steps in GNU Radio.
-
Build a horn radio telescope
Green Bank Observatory 2024 summer students, a playlist.
-
Test your amplifier before observing
Amplifier checks and software setup.
Build templates
Print these at full size and trace them onto the board before cutting. The notes directory also holds hints for Raspberry Pi computers.
Elevation axis template
The telescope base carries a protractor so the observing angle is easy to set. Tape the template to the board to be cut, then drill through the marked locations.
Elevation mount template
The cone-horn design uses a wooden elevation mount of four parts. Front and back are cut from a 10-inch wide, 8-inch tall board 0.75 inches thick; the sides are two 14-inch balusters.