The Advancement of Radio Astronomy at Brigham Young University
Abstract
We are presenting on the status and future plans of the radio astronomy project at Brigham Young University. The Physics and Astronomy department and the West Mountain Observatory already have optical facilities that offer students the opportunity to observe in the optical and NIR, but not at any other wavelengths. An array is being built to allow students to obtain data in the radio spectrum. The array is being built around the already operational 4 meter dish on top of the Eyring Science Center and will eventually contain baselines up to 8 km and a 10 m dish. We currently have selected the four sites for additional baselines. The array initially will be ready to observe HI at 1420 MHz and the OH MASER lines at 1665 MHz and 1667 MHz. We present preliminary spectra in L-band (21-18cm) with the 4 meter dish. The system will be using LNA's for signal amplification and will have digital correlation and spectral analysis through CASPER. The system is locked to a rubidium clock with a GPS master. In the future, we hope to extend the frequency coverage to C-band (5 GHz).
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22314836H