Justine Haupt

Demystifying
CUSTER OBSERVATORY

KH
AV
EN
IG
AN
ER
IM
EN
T
Radio
Astronomy
B M X
O ICH
RO EP
E

The story

1
 Outline
• Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas

• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 2
 • Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas
How does this work?
• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 3
Radio & light
Seemingly dissonant terms:

• Radio internet
• Radio television
• Radio computers
• Radio phones
• Radio optics
• Radio light

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 4
Radio & light
Seemingly dissonant terms:

• Radio internet (Wifi, 3G/4G)

• Radio television (antenna TV, satellite TV)
• Radio computers (Wifi, bluetooth, mice, keyboards, etc.)
• Radio telephones (cell phones, cordless phones)
• Radio optics (antenna design, especially dishes)
• Radio light (radio = redder than infrared)

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 5
Radio & light
Seemingly dissonant terms:

• Radio internet (Wifi, 3G/4G)

• Radio television (antenna TV, satellite TV)
• Radio computers (Wifi, bluetooth, mice, keyboards, etc.)
• Radio telephones (cell phones, cordless phones)
• Radio optics (antenna design, especially dishes)
• Radio light (radio = redder than infrared)

radio = wireless

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 6
Radio & light

Radio Technology

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 7
Radio & light

Radio Technology

Arbitrary divisions

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 8
Radio & light

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 9
Radio & light

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 10
 • Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas

• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 11
Antennas
λ
Antennas are electron “tanks” excited into oscillation
by external perturbance:

λ/2

dipole antenna

• Fundamental antenna form is the dipole: divided wire of

certain length resonates with passing EM radiation

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 12
 Antennas
λ
• Sample case: Log Periodic Dipole Array (LPDA)
• Array of dipoles decreasing in size (increasing in resonant
frequency) toward the front

Same design, different

frequencies:

40MHz

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 13
 Antennas
λ
• Sample case: Log Periodic Dipole Array (LPDA)
• Array of dipoles decreasing in size (increasing in resonant
frequency) toward the front

Same design, different

frequencies:

500MHz

40MHz

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 14
 Antennas
λ
• Sample case: Log Periodic Dipole Array (LPDA)
• Array of dipoles decreasing in size (increasing in resonant
frequency) toward the front

Same design, different

frequencies:

2GHz

500MHz

40MHz

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 15
 Antennas
λ
• How far can scaling go?
• Could you make an antenna for visible light?

Same design, different

frequencies:

2GHz

500MHz

40MHz

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 16
 Antennas
λ
• How far can scaling go?
• Could you make an antenna for visible light? Yes.

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 17
 • Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas

• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 18
History of radio
1850s: M. Faraday proposes concept of electric fields
1873: Maxwell publishes theory. Makes powerful mathematical prediction
that fields can propagate in open space and that light is an example of this
effect. Math is cumbersome.
1884: O. Heaviside refines Maxwell’s theory.
1880s: D. Hughes & H. Hertz separately prove Maxwell by demonstrating in
lab
Folks realize physical mechanism of “Hertzian Waves” could be used to
communicate. Think of light signaling.

1890s: Simple signaling commercialized (Morse adopted from telegraphy)

1900s: First demonstrations of analog sound (e.g. voice) over radio, and first
radio navigation systems created
1920: First broadcast radio stations start transmitting
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 19
History of radio
1927: Bell’s transatlantic “radiotelephone” service goes online.

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 20
History of radio astronomy
1927: Bell’s transatlantic “radiotelephone” service goes online.

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 21
History of radio astronomy
• 1930: Karl Jansky’s 20.5 MHz rotating beam antenna starts looking for
sources of communications interference and notices “a very steady hiss-
type static”

Jansky’s “merry go round”

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 22
 History of radio astronomy
• Having identified the noise source, Bell work was complete
• Took years for scientific interest to develop
• 1935-1941: Grote Reber (W9GFZ), electrical engineer and radio
amateur built (at home) first dedicated, steerable dish antenna for radio
astronomy and made first radio sky survey.
• Negative results at 3.3GHz and 900MHz
• Success at 160MHz, first sky map made

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 23
 History of radio astronomy
• Having identified the noise source, Bell work was complete
• Took years for scientific interest to develop
• 1935-1941: Grote Reber (W9GFZ), electrical engineer and radio
amateur built (at home) first dedicated, steerable dish antenna for radio
astronomy and made first radio sky survey.
• Negative results at 3.3GHz and 900MHz
• Success at 160MHz, first sky map made

Reber:

“…[astronomers] could not dream up any rational

way by which the radio waves could be generated,
and since they didn’t know of a process, the whole
affair was (considered by them) at best a mistake
and at worst a hoax.”

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 24
 History of radio astronomy
• Post WWII, excellent new radio
telescopes readily available (surplus war
radars)

• Many radio astronomy programs begin

in earnest and the science grows

OBJECTIVE OF POST WAR

RADIO ASTRONOMERS:
Make more accurate radio sky maps to
isolate locations of radio sources

• Brightest radio sources isolated to a handful of constellations:

Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Taurus, Sagittarius, among others
• Observations become possible at higher frequencies with better equipment

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 25
History of radio astronomy
By 1950s:
• Several radio sources optically
identified but frustrating lack of optical
candidates for others.

• Sources that are ID’d are confusing. E.g.

Dim nearby galaxies and bright distant
ones.
From Gerrit L. Verschuur:

• Separate naming convention for radio ...radio astronomers were greatly

objects based on constellation. impressed by the almost total lack of
connection between radio observations
and the visual sky. It did not seem
• Radio astronomy discoveries still
impossible then that there were two
suspicious to traditional astronomers. separate kinds of celestial objects, each
requiring distinct research techniques.

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 26
History of radio astronomy
Entering 1960s:
• Scenario clarifies as discovery of optical
counterparts becomes common

• Understanding of observations improve as

theories for physical mechanisms evolve

• 1962: Quasars discovered (type of AGN, also

radio galaxy)

• New discoveries force attention of astronomical

community and radio astronomers finally
indoctrinated

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 27
History of radio astronomy
• 1964: Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson
discover CMB
• 1967: Jocelyn Bell discovers first pulsar

Penzias & Wilson Jocelyn Bell

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 28
History of radio astronomy
1970s to present:
• Leaps in receiver technology and high resolution
imaging methods
• Galactic jets observed
• Theories of pulsars and quasars refined
• Satellites observe CMB, big bang cosmology
refined
• Increasingly high frequency observations
(millimeter and sub millimeter now bridging
observation gap almost all the way to the IR)
• SETI
• 2010: new kind of radio source discovered (Fast
Radio burst)
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 29
 • Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas

• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 30
 Science summary
• Celestial objects that emit visible light generally also emit radio but intensity
varies significantly
• Emissions >300MHz tends to be thermal (black body), <300MHz tend to be
non-thermal (Synchrotron, inverse Compton, or maser)
• Terms “radio galaxies” and “radio stars” refer to galaxies and stars that are
also exceptionally bright radio sources
- Radio galaxies often have Active Galactic Nuclei: e.g. jets and quasars
- Pulsars are a kind of radio star
• Interstellar gas emits radio via non-thermal processes
• Jupiter is an unusual, very bright non-thermal radio source.
• Some radio-specific identifiers have more common names, e.g. Taurus A is the
Crab Nebula
• First light in universe (from after big bang) is still visible: 3000K blackbody
radiation (mostly visible light) from when universe first became transparent.
Redshift from expanding space (not velocity) makes this light appear as 160GHz
radio (cosmic microwave background). Equivalent blackbody temp ~2.7K.

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 31
Radio observation modes
Time domain RF intensity (audio):
• Pulsar identification, timing
• Spectroscopy
• SETI
• et cetera

Single-dish observations typical

Imaging:
• Same reasons as optical astronomy

Multi-dish observations typical

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 32
 • Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas

• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 33
Radio optics
• Both radio and visible light focused with lenses or mirrors
• Lenses impractical for radio
• Same optical formulae apply: image height = f tan(θ)
• Mirror (dish) obvious choice

IMAGE
• Most radio telescopes are prime focus or Cassegrain types

Cassegrain telescope morphogenesis:

AL RA
IC D IO
T
OP

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 34
Radio optics
Dish antenna focusing radio light:

Image formed

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 35
Radio optics
Dish antenna focusing radio light:

Image not detected by single-pixel detector

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 36
Radio optics
Dish antenna focusing radio light:

Image not detected by single-pixel detector

Also:
Dish’s image resolving
potential limited by
diffraction

λ/d
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 37
Radio optics
Anatomy of a dish antenna:

Feed (antenna): Located at focal

point. Often a feed horn but any
antenna type is possible. On
consumer satellite dishes usually
called an LNB.

Dish / reflector / mirror: Usually

parabolic. Made from any radio
reflective material (metalized
plastic, wire mesh, solid metal,
wire mesh in fiberglass). Weave
size must be << wavelength.

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 38
Radio Imaging
• Single dish, single detector

• Single dish, multiple detectors

• Multi dish (interferometry) s Over

ll G los
Wi
• Radar astronomy

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 39
Radio Imaging
• Single dish, single detector

• Single dish, multiple detectors

• Multi dish (interferometry)

• Radar astronomy

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 40
Drift scanning
• Celestial objects drift past
beam, power recorded

power 0 1 2 3 4
time
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 41
Drift scanning
• Celestial objects drift past
beam, power recorded

power 0 1 2 3 4
time
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 42
Drift scanning
• Celestial objects drift past
beam, power recorded

power 0 1 2 3 4
time
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 43
Drift scanning
• Celestial objects drift past
beam, power recorded

power 0 1 2 3 4
time
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 44
Drift scanning
• Celestial objects drift past
beam, power recorded

power 0 1 2 3 4
time
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 45
Drift scanning
• Celestial objects drift past
beam, power recorded

power 0 1 2 3 4
time
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 46
Drift scanning
• 1D image

power 0 1 2 3 4
(position)
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 47
Drift scanning
Jansky’s drift scan data:
Drift scanning
Jansky’s drift scan data:
Drift scanning
Grote Reber’s drift scan strip chart:
Drift scanning
Grote Reber’s drift scan strip chart:
 Single dish imaging
• Side by side drift scans
•“2D strip chart”
• Scan sky with dish, writing
radio power to pixels

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 52
Single dish imaging
Grote Reber’s drift scan strip charts:
 Single dish imaging
Reber’s radio maps:

Effectively a hand-drawn image. Isolines indicate equal intensity regions extracted from
strip charts. Easy to replace with pixels with a computer for more conventional image.
 Single dish imaging
• Faster to actively scan sky with 2-axis
mount (not relying on earth rotation)
• Forego strip chart generation and write
RF power variation directly to image
matrix

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 55
Single dish imaging

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 56
Radio Imaging
• Single dish, single detector

• Single dish, multiple detectors

• Multi dish (interferometry)

• Radar astronomy

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 57
 Single dish with multiple detectors
• Pixelized feed
• Useful to improve sky coverage but
insufficient on its own
• Difficult to make dense pixel array at
radio wavelengths

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 58
Radio Imaging
• Single dish, single detector

• Single dish, multiple detectors

• Multi dish (interferometry)

• Radar astronomy

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 59
 Aperture Synthesis Interferometry
• Ultimate method for high-resolution imaging
• Only radio imaging method used by
professionals
• Requires an array of dishes
• Array behaves as a single very large dish
• Interesting, expansive subject (FFT fun)

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 60
Radio Imaging
• Single dish, single detector

• Single dish, multiple detectors

• Multi dish (interferometry)

• Radar astronomy :
“active” single dish imaging

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 61
 • Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas

• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 62
 Amateur Radio Astronomy
• Easy to make simple radio telescope out of TV dish: “Itty Bitty Radio Telescope”
• Strip chart recording possible

Materials:

• DirecTV (or equivalent) dish

• Power inserter, easy to make
• Stand
• Satellite finder

Better than satellite finder:

• $20 RTL-SDR

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 63
Amateur Radio Astronomy
• Folks put larger radio telescopes together from old satellite dishes
• Much potential for experimentation and innovation
• Amateurs typically do drift scans

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 64
Amateur Radio Astronomy
• Radio Jove
• Non directional decameter observation of
Jupiter, the sun, & the galaxy
• Listening mode
• NASA project

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 65
Amateur Radio Astronomy
• MARIACHI
• Local experiment
• Novel method measure cosmic rays
• See Helio Takai

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 66
 • Radio & light
Foundation
• Antennas

• Short history of radio astronomy

Radio Astronomy • Science summary

• Radio optics (yes)

Amateur
• Introduction to amateur radio astronomy
Radio Astronomy
• New frontier: Imaging with a homebrew radio telescope

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 67
Elements of a

Homebrew Imaging Radio Telescope

-TV dish?
• Dish
-Other?

• Feed (antenna) -For TV dish?

-Make? What frequency?

-Use telescope mount?

•Mount
-Make? Need LNA

• Radio -Software Defined Radio?

• Software -Simple_ra?

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 68
Elements of a

Homebrew Imaging Radio Telescope

-TV dish?
• Dish
-Other?

• Feed (antenna) -For TV dish?

-Make? What frequency?

-Use telescope mount?

•Mount
-Make? Need LNA

• Radio -Software Defined Radio?

(3D PRINTER)
• Software -Simple_ra?

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 69
Dish
Dishes available in all shapes/sizes, sometimes free

Conceptually simple to make (foil, coat hangers?)

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 70
Feed antenna
Popular choice:

• Make a “cantenna”
- A waveguide antenna made from a you-know-what
- Many guides available online for 2.4GHz Amplifier (LNA) from ebay
- An approximation of a horn antenna
- For radio astronomy, amplification is required

Alternatives:
• Use a dish LNB
• Design/build actual horn antenna
• Buy

Image from Wikipedia

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 71
Mount
Most difficult part?

• Buy: Motorized mounts readily available for amateur astronomy

- Suitable for small dishes
- Expensive
- Designed for optical telescope precision
- Availabel for radio astronomy
but also expensive

• Build
- Can be significant project
- Necessary for larger dishes

• Modify non-motorized mount

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 72
Radio
• Recent revolution in frontend receiver hardware

• Software defined radio (frontends) available for <$20

• Requires free software for control and high-level signal processing

(demodulation, audio)
-SDR# Popular on Windows
-GQRX Popular on Linux
-GNURadio for fancy stuff and development

50MHz – 2Ghz for <$20

1MHz – 6Ghz Rx + Tx for $300

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 73
Radio Astronomy Software
Operate, tune, and read the SDR frontend:
• SDR Program (SDR#, GQRX, GNURadio, etc)

Sky map, telescope pointing software:

• RadioEyes (payware) from radiosky.com
• Stellarium

Software for radio-astronomy-specific data taking:

• Radio-SkyPipe (payware) from radiosky.com
• GNURadio
• Simple_ra (addon for GNURadio)

Software for radio imaging:

• ----

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 74
How it goes together

Software to…
-Control SDR
FEED/ANTENNA
-Control mount
-Compose an image DISH

LNA (AMPLIFIER)

PC
MOUNT
SDR (RADIO)
(usb)

(usb)

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 75
Radio Astronomy Software
Operate, tune, and read the SDR frontend:
• SDR Program (SDR#, GQRX, GNURadio, etc)

Sky map, telescope pointing software:

• RadioEyes (payware) from radiosky.com
• Stellarium

Software for radio-astronomy-specific data taking:

• Radio-SkyPipe (payware) from radiosky.com
• GNURadio
• Simple_ra (addon for GNURadio) < ------- THE KEY?

Software for radio imaging:

• ----

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 76
simple_ra
Need a way to take data from SDR and output to a text file for Python to
take in to make an image.

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 77
Status of Project
First image:

(noise)

J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 78
J. Haupt Custer/LSST/BNL 79