HartRAO Home > news > NASSP Radio Astronomy Practical at HartRAO - 2013-09-02
The photos below give the flavour of how the practical was conducted.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Astronomer Marion West introduced the students to HartRAO, its history, and
the astronomy research carried out here.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
The students visiting the 15m radio telescope originally built in 2007 as the first
prototype in developing the Karoo Array Telescope (now MeerKAT).
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Astronomer Sarah Buchner at left explains the telescope control equipment
and signal processing backends in the
radio telescope control room.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Students reducing data from the Vela Pulsar recorded with the multi-channel pulsar
timer on the 26m radio telescope.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Astronomical coordinate systems! A transparent star globe helped to show how
different coordinate systems relate to each other.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
The HartRAO hospitality team who kept the students in food and drink and with
beds to sleep in are shown above in the HartRAO tearoom awaiting the hungry
horde. From the left, Sophie Montwedi, Glenda Coetzer, Samuel Masiteng, Kedibone
Montwedi, Joseph Chefu.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Back to the classroom. PhD student Jabulani Maswanganye, himself a NASSP
graduate, told the students about methanol masers and how we do
spectroscopy at radio freqeuncies in order to study them.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Geodesy PhD student Roelf Botha showed the students the Lunar / Satellite Laser Ranger that is in
development at HartRAO.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
The students watched the NASA MOBLAS-6 Satellite Laser Ranger measuring the
constantly changing distance to a
satellite crossing the sky.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
The students were shown the electronic, microwave and mechanical workshops,
and mechanical workshop supervisor Andre van der Merwe is seen here
explaining the tooling in use.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
The students used a domestic DSTV antenna and radiometer as a simple radio telescope
to measure the emission from the Sun at a frequency 12 GHz, from which they
later derived the brightness temperature of the Sun at that frequency.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
What size is the Sun? The students measured the angular diameter
of the Sun using pinhole projection.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Sarah Buchner / HartRAO
There was time to relax in the evenings - here over a braai. Second from
the left is UP MSc student
Denise Dale who is doing a project at HartRAO and is herself an ex-NASSP
student. She assisted with the braai - and other parts of the practical!
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Sarah Buchner / HartRAO
A highlight of the practical was climbing the 26m telescope and seeing its
drive and receiver systems close up.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Climbing through the structure at the Declination platform.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Sarah Buchner / HartRAO
Taming Brownian motion - getting the group together for a photo.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
Group photo in the dish is achieved!
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Denise Dale / HartRAO
The edge of the 26m dish is a long way above the ground and has to be
reached very carefully.
Left click on image for large version. Credit: Sarah Buchner / HartRAO
Carefully climbing down the long North ladder on the 26m telescope.