Astro731 does Green Bank!

Astro 731 class took a field trip to the Green Bank Observatory on March 20-23. The highlight of the trip includes making observations using the 40-foot radio telescope, including the HI spectrum of the Milky Way plane shown above, recorded using a strip chart recording — very hands-on! The plateau feature shown on the right corresponds to a CAL signal that should be approximately 500 Jy. The HI spectrum shown on the left is about 30 degrees off the MW plane, observed with this transit radio telescope. Many thanks to Sue-Ann, Jay, and others who made this trip a success!

(Credit: S. Betti)

IRAM 30m Summer School, 6-13 Sept 2019

Here is the announcement from IRAM on its single dish radio astronomy summer school in Granada, Spain.

Please find attached the first announcement of the 9th IRAM 30m Summer School that will be held in the ski resort of Pradollano, Sierra Nevada (Granada), very close to the 30m telescope in September (6-13) 2019.

The web pages will be ready soon in the IRAM web site. For reference, the pages of the previous edition can be consulted here.

2019 Term Project proposal due on March 7

The title, abstract, and 3 primary references for the project topic of your choice should be submitted by March 7 and the choice of your presentation date should be communicated — see the course schedule for possible dates.  Any of the ten topics suggested are good, but make a case if you have another topic that you want to investigate more in depth.

Welcome to the Spring 2017 edition of Astronomy 731

Back by the popular demand, Astronomy 731 is back on the air at UMass Amherst.  The LMT has been operating in the shared-risk science mode for several years now, and the completion of the full 50-m of fully active surface is expected by the end of this summer.  A new suite of new instruments are also coming on-line, including SEQUOIA with new electronics, new 1mm EHT Rx, and new digital spectrometer.  TolTEC has been funded and is under construction for its first light in 2018!  OMAR should also see its first light on the same time scale.  Of course, the first full science EHT run including the LMT-ALMA baseline should happen in April 2017.  So, having this class offered at this time again is pretty timely!  Buckle up your seat belts and enjoy the ride.

Welcome!

Welcome to Astronomy 731.    The technical aspect of radio astronomy can be prohibiting to some people, and this has kept many astronomers from taking advantage of a powerful set of tools for astrophysics.  Hopefully, you will be ready to open and to play with new tools like the LMT, ALMA, and Jansky VLA by the end of this semester.   Good luck to us all!