Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers

Charitarth Vyas of Surat, Gujarat in India is the newest SARA grant recipient. Charitarth along with his four classmates; Suresh Kumar, Paladiya Kulip, Goswami Keyur and Akashrup Banerjee will build a Radio Jove receiver as part of their Undergraduate level project.

They have specifically allotted time along with their regular studies to do integrated M.Sc with physics to do various types of projects. The main aim behind the project is to know the radio telescope and radio astronomy as a whole starting with the very basics to the advanced level by analyzing the data collected.

2010 Annual Conference Abstracts

The Annual Conference to be held at Green Bank, West Virginia July 4 to 7, 2010 will feature the following presentations in addition to the Keynote presentation by Dr. James Thieman and the Radio Jove team.

The Phase Switched Interferometer
By Bruce Randall WD4JQV
Abstract:
The Phase Switched Interferometer is a method of getting improved resolution with amateur size instruments. It uses the interference pattern of a pair of antennas spaced along a baseline to resolve more detail. This paper is a look at how it works, a practical way to build one, and some observations with the instrument. The instrument described here operates at 408MHz.

Per the SARA By-Laws this is the official call for nominations for SARA officers and board If you are interested in running for office and would like to know more about the positions, please contact a board member or the President Tom Crowley.

The requirement to be on the board is to attend the board meetings at the annual meeting. If you will be unable to attend the annual meeting, then the director at Large position may be for you. This position is a full board position only attending the annual meeting is not required.

Stanford’s Deborah Scherrer (who is also a SARA member) was one of 10 NASA scientists who toured Morocco for 2 weeks, giving all day science workshop events to middle school Moroccan children. The tour was done under the auspices of the United Nations (International Space Weather Initiative) and authorized by the King of Morocco. Funding for the trip came from Grove of Hope, a non-profit formed by several NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) scientists. Organizer was Kamal Oudrhiri of JPL. Here is her report on that trip.

We now have the presentation abstracts for the Western Conference to be held 20-21 March, 2010 at Stanford University. Thanks to David Westman, we have some really great speakers and topics scheduled. There is still time to register, just go here for details http://www.radio-astronomy.org/?q=node/134.

2010 SARA Western Conference
Stanford University, California
Presentation Abstracts

Application of the UK RAA Very Low Frequency Receiver System
Whitham D. Reeve

Abstract: Members of the UK Radio Astronomy Association have been working on a VLF receiver system prototype design since 2006 and UK RAA now sells it in kit and built form. The system consists of three major components: VLF receiver, 0.4 m square loop antenna, and antenna tuning unit. A signal generator also is available for testing and tuning the receiver. This paper discusses: 1) Receiver system architecture and characteristics; 2) Kit construction details; and 3) Performance in my observatory in Anchorage, Alaska USA.

The Annual SARA Conference this year will feature the core Radio Jove team as the keynote speakers. Read below to find out more about the team and the formation of Radio Jove.

The Radio JOVE Project - Shoestring Radio Astronomy
Dr. James Thieman

Can students learn basic radio astronomy for $100? That was the main question asked by a group of friends from the University of Florida more than ten years ago. At that time the group got together at Goddard Space Flight Center, inviting a few others who were also interested in radio astronomy, and formulated a project to test that basic question. The project was named Radio JOVE, using the alternate name of the god Jupiter, since a number of us had studied the planet Jupiter in radio astronomy research at the University of Florida. Jupiter would be a main focus for the project as one of the most interesting radio sources in the sky at the decameter wavelengths (3-30 MHz frequencies) that would be studied. The capital letters JOVE are often used, not as an acronym, but to suggest a radio station call sign just as an additional reminder of the part of the spectrum being studied. (Indeed there is or was a radio station JOVE in Spain, or so we were once told.)

The SARA student grant committee comprised of Kerry Smith, Jim Brown and Bill Lord announces a grant has been awarded to Wesley Thomas of Ohio. Wesley has requested an Itty Bitty Telescope (IBT) to be used to demonstrate the principles of radio astronomy to students.

Attendees of the SARA Western Conference March 20 to 21, 2010 at Stanford University in California can register now. Participants will receive printed Proceeding, a Proceeding on CD, lunch Saturday and Sunday, morning and afternoon refreshments for a fee of $50.00. This is a break even amount to cover expenses.

The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) hereby solicits papers for presentation at its 2010 Western Regional Conference, to be held March 20 though March 21, 2010, at Stanford University in California. Papers on radio astronomy hardware, software, education, research strategies, philosophy, observing efforts and methods are welcome.

IBT Navigator Mark Gibson recently took his Itty Bitty Telescope (IBT) to the Marbles Kids Museum http://www.marbleskidsmuseum.org/potatohead in Raleigh, NC for an astronomy day. His local club had been invited to bring telescopes and talk to the kids about astronomy. Mark reports he had about 40 children between the ages of five and twelve along with their parents checking out the IBT.