SINGLE DISH RADIO ASTRONOMY

Roberto Bartali

Introduction

Radioastronomy is the science of seeing the invisible and the only field of
astronomy that was not first developed by physicist. For almost two decades (´30
and ´40), a radioastronomer was a radio engineer. Its birth was for casualty, when
Karl Jansky, trying to identify a noise source in radio communication, discovered
that the noise came from the
Galaxy and its peak near the
Milky Way center.

Soon, the development of

new, more powerful, sensitive,
rapid, noise-less, tiny and
cheaper electronic components,
together with the improvement of
the electromagnetic theory,
allowed the construction of better
antennas and receivers.

Figure 1
Radioastronomy opened a
new and wider vision of the
The Arecibo (Puerto Rico) Radiotelescope. It is the
biggest single dish antenna ever built. Universe. Every object in the sky,
From: http://www.naic.edu/open.htm independently of its size (from a
single hydrogen atom to a
supermassive black hole) emits some kind of electromagnetic radiation at a very
specific wavelength. Radio telescopes came in a variety of sizes and shapes
(Figure 1) that depends on the wavelength and the sensitivity one needs.

In this essay, I will explain, briefly, how a radiotelescope works, as a

foreground to the main section devoted to the evolution and the applications of the
two rivaling techniques used by radioastronomers: single dish and interferometry.

1
How a radiotelescope works

A radiotelescope is a set of three main parts: an antenna, an electronic

system and a computer.

The antenna is the part that receive the

electromagnetic radiation (EM) and its principal
function is to direct as much radiation as
possible to the dipole or the wave guide and, to
convert it to a very small voltage. This EM
radiation came from the sky and is mixed with
all kind of noise picked up from the Earth
interfering devices. The main type of antenna
are [ARRL 2003; Napier 2004]: wire, helical,
yagi and reflective (flat, spherical or parabolic)
dishes (Figure 2); this last type is one of the
most used because it is better for higher
frequencies that corresponds to the radiation
emitted by the majority of atoms and moleculae in the Universe. For each
wavelength there is the needs for a special type of antenna and electronic receiver.

Figure 2 The electronic system function is to

Types of antenna
From: Napier P, Antennas in Radio amplify the signal and delete as much as
Astronomy, 2004 possible the interfering noise, this signal must
also be converted to a digital series of bytes
understandable by the computer. The low
noise amplifier (LNA) and the power supply
(PS) are the most critical part [Sinigaglia
1977], [Falcinelli 2003], because they are
Figure 3 responsible to amplify
Radio image of the the small antenna
Quasar 3C175 voltage without
From: Gary D., Radio
Astronomy Lecture 12, introducing more
2004 noise and to act as a
reference frame for
the electronic circuits, respectively.
The computer, receive the set of bytes and, after the analysis, by a very time
and resource consuming signal processing software, is capable to show (Figure 3),
print or send remotely, a picture representing the object emitting the EM radiation
[Burke and Smith 2002], [Rohlf and Wilson 2003].

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Evolution of Single Dish Radio Telescopes

The
Figure 4
The Reber 9 m. Radiotelescope.
decade of 1950
From: www.ras.ucalgary.ca/ marks the
~douglas/greber.JPG beginning of the
giant
radiotelescope era projects, and, in the follow
decade, most of them were built. This growing
is parallel to the beginning of the space
exploration era and respond to needs to track satellites. Their use as a scientific
instrument were only secundary, but soon, many of them were founded. The
history of radiotelescope begins with the one of Karl Jansky in 1931 (series of
dipole antenna), but the first parabolic dish for radioastronomical purpose only, was
the one built by Reber in 1937 (Figure 4).

Figure 5
The first
The 76.2 m. Jodrell Bank Mark I giant dish was
radiotelescope (1957). the Jodrell
From: Lowell B.,Conocimiento
Actual del Universo
Bank Mark I
(Figure 5)
which start its operation in 1957 [Lowell 1975].
Soon, many other big dishes were built around
the world (Green Bank, Arecibo, Goldstone,
Effelsberg, Parkes, etc.). One of the last built is
the 110 meters Green Bank in 1991 (Figure 6),
as we see the difference in the dish topology is
evident through the hystory.

The real dramatic change in the design of a radiotelescope is from the

electronic system because as the dish diameter increase, it do it also the noise
picked up by the antenna. The total noise of the system must be very low, many
times the receiver is cooled to very low temperature. The amplifier, built in from
vacuum tubes in
Figure 6 the decades of
The new Green Bank telescope. 1930 and 1940,
From:
http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gallery/gb soon changed to
t/index.html bipolar transistors
(invented in
1948). In the decade of 1970, the bipolar transistor
was replaced by the FET and the MOSFET, they
need a lot less current to works because they are
very high impedance transistors, so the temperature
of their junctions are lower, this reduce also the total
noise of the receiver. In the decade of 1990 a great
jump in the technology, with the development of the
HEMT, rediotelescopes can receive electromagnetic

3
signals of much higher frequency. Until de invention of the microprocessor, in the
decade of 1970, all the received signals was managed in analog form. In the next
three decades, microprocessor speed and
computing power increase a lot, also the cost of
the memories was inversely proportional to the
density, so larger memories was available at
verly low prices. During last 10 years, many
programmable components (FPGA) with
hundred of thousand transistors inside, appears
in the market at affordable prices, they are
capable to work at very high clock speed, let
electronic designers to manipulate the signals of
the amplifier in digital form.

Figure 7
The 100 m. Effelsberg
radiotelescope.
From: http://www.mpifr-
bonn.mpg.de/div/effelsberg/
t.html

For the first decades of radioastronomy,

radiotelescopes worked in the low frequency, due
to the limitations, basically, of the electronic
systems, but also due to the mechanical
construction problems for shaping the dish
correctly for shorter wavelenght (it is known that
the surface must be at least 1/20 lambda out of the
parabolic shape to let all the waves to reach the
focus in phase).

Figure 8
Parkes radiotelescope
control room.
From: Parkes web site

The discovery of many chemical elements and molecule in space, togheter

with the better understanding of the quantum mechanics laws, opened new
frontiers to radioastronomy. Most of the molecule emit EM radiation at very specific
wavelenght, but at very high frequency, in the order of hundreds of GHz. To
receive such signals, that are also of very low intensity, radiotelescope dishes must
be bulit with a very much greater accuracy and size (Figure 7), many of the giants,
have surfaces with errors as low as 1/10 mm or better.

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 A very big problem for a large dish is the weight and the wind. In a full
steerable radiotelescope, the force of gravity is able to deform the shape of the
reflector, reducing the effectiveness or even made it
unusable at all, the same is true for the wind. The
solution is not easy, one approach is to stop
observing during wind time, other is to place the
telescope in a certain position and move the
secondary reflector (like the Arecibo radiotelescope),
but this reduce the capability to receive signals from
sources at large angles respect to the axis of the
parabola.

The signal
Figure 9
amplified and pre-
Part of the Jodrell Bank control
room. processed by the
From Jodrell Bank web site electronic system, is
then converted to an image by a powerful
computer and analysed by very complicated software. The first computer control
for the analisys of the signal was much less efficient than a modern scientific
calculator (Figure 8). This days, the radiotelescope is connected to a
supercomputer because the amount of data due to the high resolution radio image
is very large (Figure 9).

Applications of Single Dish Radiotelescopes

Single dish radiotelescopes are used today for several top line research:
• Radar mapping of asteroides and
• tracking of space satellites,
• geodesic studies,
• pulsar timing measurement
• radio spectroscopy

Figure 10
The asteroid Toutatis, image made by the
Arecibo Radiotelescope
From: Arecibo web site

The study of asteroides (Figure 10) is

the main field where the single dish (and
giant) radiotelescope is the king, because
there is the need to transmit a beam with a
lot of power and when the reflected beam
return, there is the need to a very large
collecting area because the signal is extremely small. The precision of the
measurement of topographic details can reach 10 m and, specially for the

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asteroides reaching and crossing the Earth orbit, the position can be computed
with very high accuracy, even with a few measurements.

Radar astronomy application is also for satellite tracking and geodesic

studies. One of the first application of a radio telescope was precisely for receiving
satellite data and to know precisely where it is (from the localization of the Soviet
Sputnik and Luna, to the Voyager, Cassini and Stardust space probes). Today, all
the satellites and space probes communications are made by many single dish
radiotelescopes like the ones located at Parkes, Green Bank, Madrid, etc. Thanks
to the high sensitivity of a big dish, working with satellites orbiting Earth, they are
able to measure the movements of the tectonic plates, changes in the heigh of the
continents and, also, measure with very high accuracy the distance of the Moon.
This application can show changes in the orbit and allows the precise
determination of the lenght of the Earth rotation time.

Radio spectroscopy and the study of all kind of radio sources, were made
exclusively by single dish rdiotelescopes for many years, but now these kind of
studies are better with interferometers, however, many interferometric
configurations, uses the big dishes too.

Conclusion

Today large single dish radiotelescopes are currently used and they still
produce a lot of science and discovery. I think that interferometers have many
advantages over a single dish, but there are room for both. Much of the work done
by a single dish is, now, realized in conjunction with many other facilities, really
there is not a research developed just by a single instrument, because only a few
can work as a stand alone telescope, like the Arecibo. Scientific and technological
cooperation between countries and the globalization, allowed the share of data and
scientist from one country can work in another, this way the results are better,
cheaper and rapid.

A giant radio telescope is much more sensitive if it is used as a receiver and

very much powerful if it is used as a transmitter, compared to any interferometer.
The difference is the angular resolution of the interferometer, hundreds of times
better than a single dish, because we can work with radiotelescopes in space and
on the Earth to have milliarcsecond resolution. An interferometer is capable to
pinpoint a radio source with very high precision, but a single big dish may receive
signal from the most remote location in the Universe due to its sensitivity and large
collecting area.

I think that , no more “big ears” will be built in the future due to the eccessive
difficult and cost of such a system, like the Effelsberg or all other giants. The
technological challenges are difficult to overcome. As the electronic technology
make available better receivers, they will be installed on those big radiotelescopes
replaceing the obsolete ones, so this way, they earn a new life. Instead, an
interferometer is less expensive, specially for the mechanical structure, because a

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small dish weights much less, so the problem of deformation is much less too. A
fully steerable telescope for an interferometer is easier to build.

References

Rohlfs K., Wilson T., Tools of Radio Aastronomy, Springer, 2003

Burke B., Graham-Smith F., An Introduction to Radio Astronomy, 2002
Falcinelli F., Radioastronomia amatoriale, Il Rostro, 2003
Sinigaglia G., Elementi di técnica radioastronomica, ARI, 1977
Kitchin C.R., Astrophysical techniques, Institute of Physics Publishing, 1998
Cecchini G., Il Cielo vol.2, UTET, 1969
Lowell Sir B., Conocimiento actual del universo, NCL, 1975
Various Authors, The ARRL Antenna Book, ARRL ed., 2003
Various Authors, The ARRL Handbook 2004, ARRL ed., 2003
Shostak S., Sharing the Universe, Berkeley Hills Books, 1998
Napier P, Antennas in Radio Astronomy, 2004

Radio telescopes web pages:

Arecibo, Puerto Rico http://www.naic.edu/open.htm

Cracow, Poland http://www.oa.uj.edu.pl:80/sol/
Deep Space Network http://dsnra.jpl.nasa.gov
Haystack, USA http://web.haystack.mit.edu/haystack/haystackTOC.html
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA http://www.nrao.edu/
Parkes, Australia http://www.tip.csiro.au/History/Parkes.htm
Hartebeestoek, South Africa http://www.hartrao.ac.za/#spectra
Effelsberg, Germany http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/div/effelsberg/index_e.html
Green Bank, USA http://www.gb.nrao.edu/
Jodrell Bank, England http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/
Usuda, Japan http://www.jaxa.jp/about/centers/tracking/udsc/index_e.html
Nancay, France http://www.obs-nancay.fr/
http://pancake.as.utexas.edu/feng/Aug98/Mcd2000/radiotelescope2.jpg