The Radio Sky II: Observational Radio Astronomy

About this Course

The first part of the course introduces the different types of telescope technologies available to astronomers, with a particular focus on single-dish radio telescopes and radio interferometers. Optical, UV, X-ray, Gamma, neutrino, and gravitational wave telescopes will also be briefly covered, as well as a foray into Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. We, then, dive deep into the principles of observational radio astronomy, covering the observables (flux, luminosity, brightness temperature), and the instrumentation (the radiometer equation, sensitivity calculations). Next, we describe various radio telescope technologies, as well as time-domain radio astronomy (pulsars, transients, Fast Radio Bursts). Finally, we look at different radio astronomy observatories around the world and compare their capabilities. The rest of the course is dedicated to radio interferometric imaging. We introduce the Fourier transform and the van Cittert-Zernike theorem, and discuss the principles of aperture synthesis imaging (visibilities, sampling, point spread functions, deconvolution). We drill down into the radio-interferometer measurement equation (RIME), and use that to derive the principles of interferometric calibration and self-calibration. We also look at practical data reduction techniques, covering data inspection, flagging, basic calibration, and imaging, as well as the practical details of writing observational proposals. The course includes a discussion of the future Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, its challenges, and projected scientific capabilities.

Created by: École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Level: Advanced


Related Online Courses

Se presentan de forma teórica y práctica los conceptos y leyes fundamentales que rigen los circuitos eléctricos. Se introducen los conceptos de tensión, intensidad, potencia y energía eléc... more
While any major sport event can pose great opportunities for the host city or region, there are also challenges associated with hosting these events. The environmental impact on the country's... more
Autonomous vehicles, such as self-driving cars, rely critically on an accurate perception of their environment. In this course, we will teach you the fundamentals of multi-object tracking for... more
There is a broad spectrum of ways that science can be incorporated into environmental management and policy and it all begins with effectively articulating cause and impacts. Climate change,... more
In this course, we will take you on a virtual journey covering different Earth observation tools. In the course modules, we cover the most essential measurement tools for solid Earth, the... more

CONTINUE SEARCH

FOLLOW COLLEGE PARENT CENTRAL