SETI Geographically-spaced Synchronized Signal Detecction System – Simultaneous SETI Observations Oct 2017 to Nov 2018

 

Geographically-spaced Synchronized Signal Detecction System – Simultaneous SETI Observations Oct 2017 to Nov 2018. Please click to read the PDF presentation.

Prepared for the Deep Space Exploration Society by Skip Crilly. Revised November 8, 2018.

This is an updated revision of Skip Crilly’s slide set, originally presented last summer. Skip points out that the revision includes a summary of the pulses of November 2017 through November 2018.. Two newer NRAO 5690 plots in the presentation show the very stable performance of the telescope, and the narrower Plishner beamwidth.

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