Category: Science

Greenbank & Haswell plots of simultaneous observation of NRAO 5690 on August 15, 2018

The following is a comparison of simultaneous observations made on August 15, 2018 of the astronomical radio source, NRAO 5690.

The first plot is an observation made by Skip Crilly at the 4o foot radio telescope at Greenbank Observatory in West Virginia. The second plot is an observation made by Steve Plock at the DSES Plishner 60-foot antenna in Haswell, Colorado.

Greenbank observation by Skip Crilly of NRAO 5690, on August 15, 2018.
DSES Plishner radio telescope observation in Haswell, CO by Steve Plock of NRAO 5690 on August 15, 2018.

NRAO 5690 is a catalogued supernova remnant (SNR), with the celestial coordinate location of 18 hours 35 minutes Right Ascension and -7  degrees 20 minutes Declination. It is known to have an apparent radio brightness of 90 Janskies at 1.4 GHz *(1).

Each observation was made by Drift Scan. Drift scan is fixing the azimuth (left-right) direction of the antenna, and scanning the sky as the Earth rotates.  For each dish antenna, the elevation above the horizon is also fixed. As the Earth turns (at a quarter of a degree per minute), each antenna can detect radio source objects within its sensitivity, as the objects cross the beam width.

The observation at Haswell was done during a 42 hour drift scan at -7.6 degrees declination, in support of the joint SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) work between DSES and Skip Crilly *(2).  The dual plots show we are observing the same astronomical object at known pointing angles, and is a good verification of the two systems observing together.

 

1. Reference: NRAO VLA 1.4 GHz survey.

2. Geographically-spaced Synchronized Signal Detection System” by Skip Crilly.  Presentation on June 11, 2018 at the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers Conference Green Bank Observatory, West Virginia, USA

 

DSES SuperSID Radio Telescope — September 2017 Significant Solar Events Observed

DSES SuperSID Radio Telescope

September 2017 Significant Solar Events Observed

The DSES Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance Monitor (SID) detected in September several major solar eruptions – M and X Class Flares. Below are shown graphs of the data from four particular days.

The DSES SID instrument is located in Colorado Springs.  It works by listening for a US Navy beacon station in North Dakota, call sign NML,  transmitting on the Very Low Frequency (VLF) of 25 KHz.  During the day, the D Layer of the ionosphere forms at lower altitudes and attenuates the VLF signal.  But during solar flares, VLF signals can more easily pass through the D Layer, and they then get bounced back to the ground from the higher F Layer.  The more the solar flare activity affecting our ionosphere, the better the VLF signal from NML propagates to us.

Strong solar flare events show a characteristic spike, and then a “shark tail” as the ionosphere recovers.

At night, the D Layer dissipates, and then the signal from NML usually easily reaches the receiver.  At local sunrise, at about 1200 UTC, you can see the effect of the D Layer forming with the sudden drop in reception.

You can see evidence that the F Layer is influenced by the solar flares as well.  Notice during the X 8.2 Flare on September 10 that the incoming signal becomes even stronger than during normal propagation at night.

The bottom axis of each graph is Greenwich (UTC) Time.  The vertical axis shows the received energy.  Individual flare events are identified and annotated in green.  Some events occurred during local night.

Observations were made by Dr. Richard Russel.

September 4, 2017 – M Class Flares

 

September 6, 2017 – M Class Flares

 

 

September 7, 2017 – X 1.3 Class Flare

 

September 10, 2017 – X 8.2 Flare

Deep Space Exploration Society (DSES) SuperSID station measures the August 20, 2017 Solar Eclipse!

Deep Space Exploration Society (DSES) SuperSID station measures the August 20, 2017 Solar Eclipse!

[ http://dses.science/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Eclipse-SuperSID-Results.pdf ]

DSES President Dr. Richard Russel has been measuring signal strengths 0f stations in the Very Low Frequency (VLF) band for the past year, looking for changes in ionospheric propagation due to solar flares. He uses a Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance (SID) monitor small radio telescope.  His SID detector is located in Colorado Springs, CO. The measurements are sensitive to the changes in radio propagation at sunrise and sunset.

With his baseline of historical data at sunrise and sunset, he then predicted what could be expected during the August 20, 2017 solar eclipse. He presented his prediction work at the 2017 Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers Annual Conference at NRAO Greenbank, WV on July 25, 2017. His paper was titled, “Ionospheric Reflection Variation During Sunrise and Sunset and Predictions for the 2017 Total Eclipse”.

During the eclipse he made measurements, and found the results matched closely with his predictions. The link presents a summary of his work. Plus it has YouTube links to this and another of his talks at the SARA conference. The second talk is titled, “The Use of Monte-Carlo Analysis to Evaluate Radio Astronomy Source Detection”.

Also see this Daily Mail article, NASA Scientists to Study the Ionosphere During the Eclipse (August 10, 2017).

Preliminary Baseline 420 MHZ Celestial Drift Scan Survey, December 2016

Here is my fist shot at a survey! A lot of things I can fix for next survey, planned for after Christmas.

1) Will have a 15dB preamp installed on mast
2) Will raise frequency to midrange of antenna sweet spot (435 MHz)
3) Will do a better alignment of antenna

This was fun!!!!!!

Rich

Dr. Rich Russel
drrichrussel@netscape.net

Link to Preliminary Baseline 420 MHZ Celestial Drift Scan Survey, December 2016: 420-mhz-drift-scan-survey-rev-4

New Milky Way H Map – Incredible Detail

Sky & Telescope has a short, illustrated news item today about high resolution 1H (atomic hydrogen) observations of our galaxy from Australia and Germany. It includes a video showing how the view changes with wavelength due to Doppler shift. I thought this would be good to share; this is what we’ll be looking for with the HI drift scans.

Astronomers Map Millky Way in Incredible Detail – Sky & Telescope

Read the Sky & Telescope article.

Science Update 9-3-16

Radio Jove and SuperSID Data and Analysis Reports

Attached are the August reports for the Radio Jove, located at Plishner, and the SuperSID, which is located at my house.

1) The Radio Jove observing season is closing down with only an hour of observing time a day after sunset. We did get a couple of probable hits.

2) SuperSID did detect an M1.3 flare on 8 August. I also conducted a comparison of the Radio Jove results and the SuperSID results. I found no significant correlation between the two telescopes. The lightning storms this month also affected both telescopes by adding a lot of spurious signals.

I have been in contact with the Radio Jove NASA coordinator. He likes what we are doing and has provided information to improve our Radio Jove system.

DSES SuperSID Results August 2016
DSES Plishner Radio Jove Results August 2016

Dr. Rich Russel
DSES VP and Science Coordinator
drrichrussel(at)netscape.net

Pilsner 8/12-13/2016 Weekend Science Trip Projections

Data for the moon:
     date: 12 Aug            Rises: 15:32    Sets: 01:16 (13 Aug)
     date: 13 Aug            Rises: 16:25    Sets: 02:01 (14 Aug)
=============================================
Data for radio sources:
Data for Sgr-A (RA: 17h 47m   DEC: -28d 42m):
     12 Aug  21:17  ALT: 21.9deg  AZ: 180deg(meridian)
                             Rises: 17:04    Sets: 01:14 (13 Aug)
     13 Aug  21:21  ALT: 21.9deg  AZ: 180deg
                             Rises: 17:08    Sets: 01:18 (14 Aug)
Data for Cyg-A (RA: 19h 59.5m  DEC: 40d 44m):
     12 Aug 23:30   ALT: 88.3deg   AZ: 360deg(due north)
                             Rises: 14:41    Sets: 08:00 (13 Aug)
     13 Aug 23:34   ALT: 88.3deg   AZ: 360deg
                             Rises: 14:45    Sets: 08:04 (14 Aug)
Data for Cas-A (RA: 23h 23.4m  DEC: 58d 49m):
     12 Aug 02:50  ALT: 69.9deg  AZ: 360deg(due north)
     13 Aug 02:54  ALT: 69.9deg  AZ: 360deg
     NOTE: Cas-A is circumpolar and never drops below the local horizon.
Data for Tau-A (RA: 05h 34.5m  DEC: 22d 01m):
     12 Aug 09:00  ALT: 73.0deg  AZ: 180deg(meridian)
                              Rises: 02:01    Sets: 16:01
     13 Aug 09:04  ALT: 73.0deg  AZ: 180deg
                              Rises: 02:05    Sets: 16:05
Data for Vir-A (RA: 12h 30.8m  DEC: 12d 23m):
     12 Aug 15:54  ALT: 63.4deg  AZ: 180deg(meridian)
                               Rises: 09:26   Sets: 22:21
     13 Aug 15:58  ALT: 63.4deg  AZ: 180deg
                               Rises: 09:29   Sets: 22:25
Provided by WD0CUJ

Science Update 8-1-16

Plishner Radio SuperSID Results – July 2016

  • Here is my analysis of the SuperSID Data: DSES SuperSID Results July 2016
  • There were a number of C1+ flares last month.
  • There was an M1.9 flare on July 24.
  • The system is barely detecting C flares and rarely detects B flares.
  • I plan on taking to Plishner – this should increase sensitivity.

Plishner Radio Jove Results – July 2016

    • Here is my analysis of the Radio Jove data for July 2016 from the Plishner site: DSES Plishner Radio Jove Results July 2016
    • There was a significant improvement in detection results this month. This corresponds to the new antenna cabling.

Rich

Dr. Rich Russel
drrichrussel@netscape.net