3.7-meter Student Radio Telescope (SRT)

The Student Radio Telescope (SRT) is located on the north wing of the Steward Observatory campus station, on the 5th floor. It is readily visible from the corner of 2nd and Cherry. It is designed exclusively as a teaching and research tool for undergraduates. It provides students with a view of the radio sky between 1 and 2 GHz (10-20 times higher frequency than a broadcast FM radio). Primary spectral features in this wavelength regime include the 1420 MHz line of atomic hydrogen and the 1665 GHz lines of the OH molecule. With the SRT, students can study the multitude of cold, extended hydrogen clouds that dwell within the Milky Way. From studying these clouds they can learn about the properties of the cold interstellar medium; such knowledge is important for understanding the formation of stars and planets. They can also use the clouds to study the morphology and velocity structure of the Milky Way.

The SRT is a refurbished 12' (3.66 m) parabolic dish that has been modified for motor control of both azimuth and elevation. It has been designed for fully-computerized remote operation. A remote camera will take pictures of the telescope, allowing remote users to verify the telescope's performance.

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AutoCAD drawing archive for the SRT

Current Status

• The hardware has been fully developed and constructed. The telescope mounting and drive control has shown to be accurate and reliable.
• Bryan Jones is developing a fully-integrated software package based on Linux and GTK+ to remotely-control the telescope. This software will allow spectral scans, pointing, guiding, tracking, and calibration.

Interesting Early Results

First light with the SRT at 21 cm (1420 MHz)! The sky was allowed to drift across the beam of the static telescope, a technique known as drift scanning. The total power output of the receiver was recorded on a strip-chart recorder. The signature of atomic hydrogen, concentrated in the disk plane of our Galaxy (i.e. the Milky Way), is clearly present at 6:30 AM, as is the Sun at 12:30 PM. Notice also that radio frequency interference (RFI) is pronounced after 6 AM.

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Undergraduate student Steven White made a drift-scan map of a giant swath of sky in atomic hydrogen by moving the telescope to a different elevation each day and recording the intensity of the sky as the Earth rotated. The resulting HI map of the Milky Way is quite impressive:

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