Appendix A: Technical Appendices
16 Skynet Radio Observing Guide
This guide is based on Gloria Brown Simmons’s Radio Observation Guide [pdf], with assistance from Matt Fleenor.
- Login to https://skynet.unc.edu/, then My Observatory> Radio Observing
- Click “+Add New Observation”
- Under Target Lookup, in keywords, type in pulsar target as “psr RADEC”, e.g. “psr 0355+54” and hit Enter or click Search. You must include psr at the beginning.
- Adjust:
- Min target elevation 20 degrees
- Min sun separation 1 degree
- Save and continue.
- In Receiver Settings, keep default (Low Resolution, HI filter, 1024 channels, not Pulsar Mode); Save and Continue.
- In Path Settings, Path Type should be Track, and set up an observation with a 120 second Duration, at 0.01 Integration Time, 0 Repeats.
- Save and Continue, and on the next page Submit.
- Below is a video walkthrough of the steps above, and a second video with instructions for analyzing your data once returned.
Post-lab questions:
- How are pulsars named?
- Why might you want the minimum pulsar elevation to be above 20 degrees?
- Why are pulsars easier to detect using radio wavelengths than they are in visible wavelengths?
- Why is it possible to do radio astronomy in the daytime?
- The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, uses radio telescopes to look for signals from alien civilizations. Why do you think the most common wavelength of choice for this search is radio?
- Once your pulsar data are returned, analyze them as described in the second of the videos above, and generate a single-page document that tells the story of your analysis and findings.