Radio Astronomy and MeerKAT In 5 minutes: A Radio Telescope Run by Neilen Marais

Lightning Talk

Transcript

1. Radio Astronomy and MeerKAT In 5 minutes: A Radio Telescope Run by Python Neilen Marais nmarais@ska.ac.za
6. `
10. Atmospheric Opacity – what can we see from here?
12. The First (Jansky’s) Radio Telescope
13. The Second (Reber’s) Radio Telescope
14. • Sensitivity • ΔS min : minimum detectable flux density • k: 1.38x10-23 J/K • A e : effective area of aperture [m2] • Ks: sensitivity constant (order unity) • Δυ: bandwidth [Hz]; t, integration time; n, number of averages taken. proportional to T SYS /A e • Resolution • Circular dish • D e : diameter [m] • λ: wavelength [m] • Δθ: resolution [rad] Bigger is better!
20. Interferometry • Back in the UK... 1964 • Martin Ryle – Aperture Synthesis with the One Mile Telescope • Increases resolution by using spacing between antennas... • Where D is the spacing between antennas
23. Where are our telescopes?
24. KAT-7: 7 x 12.5 m dishes
25. Photo: Rob Millenaar MeerKAT: 64 x 13.5 m dishes Under Construction State of the art!
31. RFI shielded 1.72 GHz 10bit ADC
39. MeerKAT-16 First Light June 2016
40. SKA Mid: Terrible Artists impression
41. SKA 2 Mid... 2025+
43. Thank You... WE ARE HIRING PYTHON DEVS!!! Contact: nmarais@ska.ac.za www.ska.ac.za
44. Backup Slides - Pulsars
47. A “normal” Pulsar A little faster... Faster Still... And the record holder... What we don’t want...
48. Credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions