Friday, May 27, 2011

Io-A on 110522

Below the spectrum, I show a small air view of the Nancay Decametric Array in Central France. It has 144 conic logarithmic spirals, 72 per polarization, in a 12x12 square array. The axis of each cone is tilted south at 70 degrees altitude, for better coverage of the Sun and Jupiter.

Most days the Sun is observed between about 8 to 16 UT. Jupiter is observed for about 10 months of the year, mostly at night.
The Archive has close to 20 years of data.

Maximum gain 25 dB
Area ~ 8000 m^2
Bandwith 10 to 120 MHz
8 copper coated steel wires connected to the coax by diode switches
Only 6 wires are used at any given time, 2 opposite wires are left disconnected
By adjusting the diode switches, the phasing can be changed in steps of 45 deg
There are also delay lines
Sensitivity 100 Jy

My thanks to Paris Observatory.