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Potchefstroom University Students at HartRAO 2001/03/20

Five fourth year students from the Physics Department at the Potchefstroom University spent four days carrying out practical work in radio astronomy at HartRAO during March 2001. Professor Johan van der Walt led the group. He noted that this was their eleventh year doing radio astronomy at HartRAO.

The students first learned how to calibrate a microwave receiver using hot and cold loads in the microwave laboratory. They moved onto making continuum flux measurements of a variety of radio sources - HII regions, supernova remnants, radio galaxies and quasars. They also observed hydrogen recombination lines from the Orion nebula, and used this to compute the temperature of the HII region.

In addition, two PhD students from Spain joined in, meeting with the pulsar research team from HartRAO and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Brief biographies of the students are:

(1) Pinkie Sello. Graduated from the University of Lesotho. Thereafter teacher at a private secondary school in Lesotho. BSc. Hons student at Potchefstroom.

(2) Eduard Chebase. Graduated from Medunsa, doing BSc. Hons. at Potchefstroom.

(3) Chisto van der Sandt. Third / fourth year All PU student at Potchefstroom.

(4) Paulus Kruger. Also Potchefstroom student. MSc + electronic engineering simulteously.

(5) Daniel Moeketsi. Potchefstroom student. Got BSc last year, doing BSc. Hons.

(6) Emma Wilhelmi - PhD student from Spain. Will do a PhD in gamma-ray astrophysics with Professor Okkie de Jager on problems related to the MAGIC gamma ray telescope.

(7) Marcos Moya. Same as Emma. Okkie supervises the Spanish pulsar program on MAGIC.

The pictures below show the students at work with Professor van der Walt and HartRAO staff during the visit. Click on the pictures for full size (1600 x 1200) images.