Posted by Davin Flateau on 16 Jun 2005 at 9:39 am.
Filed under Astronomy.
When most people think of amateur astronomy, they think of a small group of people gathering in a parking lot or a field somewhere, setting up scopes for people to look through. But when’s the last time you heard of an amateur astronomer setting up an antenna or parabolic dish? Some do, and are treated to the secrets of the Universe that are invisible from our view through traditional telescopes. Welcome to the world of amateur radio astronomy!
The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers holds their annual convention this weekend at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.
It’s a gathering of enthusiastic people who are dedicated to watching and even listening to the Universe in wavelengths ranging from the microwave all the way down the radio band. Their methods differ greatly from optical astronomers - from their equipment, to their receivers, to the signal analyzers that tell them what they’re “looking” at. The universe is beaming light all across the electromagnetic spectrum, and when you look up in the sky, you’re only seeing a very narrow view of the information coming from the Universe. When you look at the sky with radio “eyes”, a new Universe comes alive, allowing you to see things like the afterglow of the Big Bang, and the clockwork-like flashes from most Pulsars, the remnants of supernova.
Radio astronomy has some fascinating aspects to it, especially when you get to use your ears instead of your eyes to study the Universe. For instance, with a simple setup, you can listen to the radio pulses from unseen meteors as they disintegrate in our atmosphere. You can even listen to solar flares, and storms on Jupiter, as the radio energy from these disturbances travel through the cosmos to finally end up in your antenna.
The group has a great list of educational resources for your continued exploration into the radio Universe.
