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Demonstrating the Principles of Aperture Synthesis with Table-Top Laboratory Exercises
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Metadata
Title
Demonstrating the Principles of Aperture Synthesis with Table-Top Laboratory Exercises
Abstract
Many undergraduate radio astronomy courses are unable to give a detailed treatment of aperture synthesis due to time constraints and limited math backgrounds of students. We have taken a laboratory-based approach to teaching radio interferometry using a set of college-level, table-top exercises. These are performed with the Very Small Radio Telescope (VSRT), an interferometer developed at the Haystack Observatory using satellite TV electronics as detectors and compact fluorescent light bulbs as microwave
signal sources. The hands-on experience provided by the VSRT in these labs allows students to gain a conceptual understanding of radio interferometry and aperture synthesis without the rigorous mathematical background traditionally required.
The data are quickly and easily processed using a user-friendly data analysis Java package, VSRTI_Plotter.jar. This software can also be used in the absence of the equipment as an interactive computer activity to demonstrate an interferometer’s responses to assorted surface brightness distributions. The students also gain some familiarity with Fourier transforms and an appreciation for the Fourier relations in interferometry using another Java package, the Tool for Interactive Fourier Transforms (TIFT). We have successfully used these tools in multiple offerings of our radio astronomy course at Union College
Date
01/01/2019
Type of Publication
Author(s)
Marr, J. M. | Rogers, A. E. E. | Fish, V. L. | Wilkin, F. P. | Arndt, M. B. | Holodak, G. | Durkota, K.
Editor(s)
Deustua, Susana | Eastwood, Kathleen DeGioia | ten Kate, I.L.
Content
Construct
General Teaching > Inquiry-based Learning | General Teaching > Teaching Resource
Methodology
Research Setting
Specific Interest
Target Group
Institution(s)
Union College | MIT Haystack Observatory | Bridgewater State University
Book Title
The International Symposium on Education in Astronomy and Astrobiology (ISE2A 2017)
Peer-Reviewed Status
Publisher
EPJ Web of Conferences
Volume
200
Conference Proceeding Type
Resource Type
Nation(s) of Study
United States of America
Language
English