Sunday, March 31, 2013

The History of the Radio Jove Project


In this time of sequestration of funds for education, I hope the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States of America continues to support this wonderful educational project, for many years to come, as it did in the beginning.

I quote from:

http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/library/newsletters/2009Apr/

"...Ten Years of Radio Jove – In the Beginning
Richard Flagg & Jim Thieman

In July of 1997 a Jove Program development meeting was held in the ham club building at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The meeting was like old home week for Jim Thieman, Ron Parise, Michael Desch, Leonard Garcia, and Richard Flagg, all formerly associated with the Jupiter radio research program at the University of Florida. At that time the Jove program was an unfunded idea - there was no hardware or software. Many issues were discussed including what frequencies to use and how much a kit might cost. We decided to develop software to allow plotting signal strength on a computer - a radical departure from the ink spewing strip chart recorders in use at the UF Radio Observatory (UFRO). A $100 cap on the cost for the receiver and antenna was set as a goal.

A link was established with Bill Taylor and Bill Pine of the INSPIRE program. This highly successful NASA-affiliated VLF radio program provided the infrastructure for early Jove kit ordering and distribution. Our close relationship with INSPIRE continues under the leadership of Kathleen Franzen.

Over the next several months the receiver design evolved - moving from a traditional superheterodyne architecture to a simple direct conversion receiver. While receiver development was underway in a cramped corner of Flagg's apartment living room in Honolulu, Francisco Reyes, Tom Carr and Wes Greenman developed the antenna in Florida. Ron Parise burned the midnight oil in Silver Spring, Maryland, developing JoveChart. Simultaneously Jim Thieman secured funding for the project as part of the Director's Discretionary Fund at GSFC.

By the following Spring the hardware and software came together in a beta version of the Jove kit, and in July we converged on the annual SARA meeting in Green Bank, West Virginia. Late one cold and foggy night, after connecting the new Jove receiver to the historic Jansky radio telescope antenna, we were rewarded with our first Jupiter signals.

One participant in that nights festivities was Jim Sky who would go on to develop Radio-SkyPipe, Radio Jupiter Pro and the spectrograph viewing program currently used by Jove observers worldwide.

Jim Gass, one of the attendees at the original GSFC meeting, developed and maintains the Jove website and Leonard Garcia implemented and maintains the Jove Data Archive. Thanks to Len's efforts, a historic roadside marker denotes the site of the 1955 discovery of radio emissions from Jupiter. Len has also worked hard to raise public awareness with a traveling radio astronomy display, the Solar System Radio Explorer Kiosk. Chuck Higgins, another one of the Florida crew involved with program development from the beginning, is currently managing distribution of all Jove materials from Middle Tennessee State University. Wes Greenman orders receiver parts and puts the kit materials together – insuring the high quality of the Jove kit.

Over the years the Radio Jove Project has benefited from additional funding from NASA, from the NASA Space Grant organization, and from the American Astronomical Society. The funds enabled development of hardware, software, educator lesson plans, special materials and displays for the disabled, etc. We have also received the benefit of the assistance of many summer students through funding provided by several NASA student programs. We would also like to acknowledge the kind support of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) in providing funds for several individuals or groups to purchase the Radio Jove kits who otherwise could not afford them.

Measures of Success

The Director's Discretionary Fund support, that enabled the initial start-up of the project, is given to projects considered to have a high risk of failure - but also potentially very useful if success is achieved. Happily, the Radio Jove project has been one of the most successful education and outreach recipients of these funds and is now self-sustaining.

Over the ten years since the first kit was distributed, we are now approaching the distribution of the 1400th kit. The kits will be found mostly in the United States, but more than a third of them have been distributed in countries all around the world. We are especially proud of the stories of inspiration from students who have won science fairs with the project, from museums and science centers that have used them to introduce their audiences to radio astronomy, and from foreign observers who could not afford the kit yet persevered in getting financial and technical assistance to reach their goal..."

The Radio Jove Project was incorporated in 2006, as a Public Benefit Corporation, in the State of Tennessee USA.

I quote from :

http://tnbear.tn.gov/Ecommerce/FilingDetail.aspx?CN=070135197015032147095084112005121066174188166009

"...RADIO JOVE PROJECT, INC was formed on 2006-07-13 in Tennessee.
Universal ID    TN-000525132
Name    RADIO JOVE PROJECT, INC
Agent Name:     HIGGINS, CHARLES A
Agent Address:     1301 E MAIN ST MTSU BOX 41 MURFREESBORO, TN 37132-0001 USA ..."   

Saturday, March 30, 2013

130330-130402 -- Four consecutive days of lovely solar activity at Nancay - types I II III V VI

Many thanks to the Taxpayers of France, and the Nancay Decametric Array Team at the Nancay Radio Astronomy Station of Paris Observatory.

130402 -- Four consecutive days of lovely solar activity at Nancay - types I II III V VI
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/events/20130401events.txt

AR 11711 has potential for M flares:
http://www.solarmonitor.org/region.php?date=20130402&region=11711

X-ray image on 130401:
http://www.solarmonitor.org/data/2013/04/02/pngs/hxrt/hxrt_flter_ar_11711_20130401_060012.png

Its Hale class is beta:
http://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/magneticclasses.html
beta: A sunspot group having both positive and negative magnetic polarities (bipolar), with a simple and distinct division between the polarities:
http://www.solarmonitor.org/data/2013/04/02/pngs/shmi/shmi_maglc_ar_11711_20130402_151447.png

Type III storms at rates of several per minute, LCP continuum, a 4 minute drifting band of type I bursts in the 50-75 MHz band (LCP):

130402 below



4 minute drifting band of type I bursts in the 50-75 MHz band (LCP) below





130401 -- Third consecutive day of good solar activity at Nancay
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/events/20130401events.txt

AR 11711
http://www.solarmonitor.org/region.php?date=20130401&region=11711
gave an impressive X-ray image on 130331 0626 UTC
http://www.solarmonitor.org/data/2013/04/01/pngs/hxrt/hxrt_flter_ar_11711_20130331_062643.png

See also the latest 171 angstrom movie
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_1024_0171.mpg

130401 below 



130331 below




Type V/2 below - significant brief continuum

130330 below
Type II with fundamental and second harmonic - 2 spectra below







Type VI - a series of type III lasting > 10 minutes - below

Monday, March 25, 2013

Webber and McDonald 2013 - Voyager 1 observes unprecedented changes

Voyager 1 has been exploring the unkown for many years, we are learning a great deal about the properties of the Planetary System at distances of more than 100 Astronomical Units.





Monday, March 18, 2013

Soy Radio Astronomo







   Irun es donde fui concebido
  Bilbao es donde partimos
 Cabo de Buena Esperanza
  Rio-Montevideo-Buenos Aires
   vi la Luz en San Fernando Argentina

San Ignacio de Loyola fue el Vasco fundador de la Orden Jesuita
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacio_de_Loyola
Colegio Jesuita del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus
 Soriano y Medanos * Montevideo
  estudiante 8 anios
Misa todos los dias
 a las 8
  en ayunas
   seguida de un desayuno
    pan - cafe con leche
Disciplina RIGUROSA

No ha cambiado en Google:
http://goo.gl/maps/RijO2
Me emociona

Ahora soy Pecador !
 No voy a Misa
   No soy Catolico
    Soy Radio Astronomo

Donde esta el Cielo ?
  En una galaxia a mil millones de anios luz
Que nombre tiene ?
  No lo se
Donde esta el Infierno
  En la mente de Homo Sapiens

El Papa Francisco es el primero Jesuita y Argentino
 Que tenga suerte
  Amen

    Amerikanuak
Vasco Victorio
    Aitaren eskutura du

-------------------------------------------------

Tiro en la nuca - Cabo de Buena Esperanza


Noche fria
Prisionero del dictador
Pamplona
Republica Euskaldunak
-
Un cura lo acompania
Tiro en la nuca
Fosa comun
!
!
No fue asi
Ayuda Fraternal
Expulsion
>>>
Cabo de Buena Esperanza
Amerikanuak
Rio Montevideo Buenos Aires
San Fernando
Philips de Sud America
Radios
Electronica
Santiago de Chile
Montevideo
Facultad de Ingenieria y Agrimensura
Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias
Medalla de Oro
...
Fulbright
USA
Wisconsin
El Doctor
Radio Astronomia
Enormes Telescopios
Computadores Microscopicos
Asi Fue
Soy porque Fueron
Viven en mi memoria
Vasco
Victor
Aitaren eskutura du
  

Sunday, March 17, 2013

130308 Io-B Greenman -- Ionospheric electron concentration variation in time computed from Faraday modulations



I refer to:
http://herrero-radio-astronomy.blogspot.com/2013/02/faraday-rotation-effects-in-spectral.html 

and the 130308 Io-B spectrum above, published by Wesley Greenman (many thanks), showing prominent Faraday modulations.

The number of Faraday rotations is inversely proportional to the square of the frequency. Let us assume Faraday rotation is caused mainly the the terrestrial ionosphere, and that over a period of about 4 minutes, the magnetic field intensity, zenith angle of the line of sight, and magnetic field angle with the line of sight changed little.   A more accurate analysis should take into account the changes.

Then, the integrated ionospheric electron concentration (electrons per meter^2) is directly proportional to the square of the frequency, along a Faraday band.

Example: 130308 Io-B spectrum published by Wesley Greenman.

Pixels are measured from the upper left corner of the image, right and down, coordinates are (time, frequency).
Time scale = 1 pixel per second
Frequency scale = 50 pixel per MHz

There is a dark band at pixel (200,36)
Later, the same dark band is at pixel (433,61)
Time change = 233 pixel = 233 second
Frequency change = 25 pixel = 0.5 MHz
25 MHz tick is at (600,50)

The electron concentration decreased, changing by ~ (24.5/25.0)^2 = 0.96 = a 4% decrease in 233 seconds.

Many thanks to Wesley Greenman for the wonderful data he publishes in the Data List

Saturday, March 16, 2013

130316 -- Lively solar activity continues at Nancay

NOAA SWPC types III/2, V, VI

I have posted 6 Nancay spectra, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory image that won the Wikimedia picture of the year 2012 second place.

Many thanks to the Nancay Decametric Array Team at the Nancay Radio Astronomy Station of Paris Observatory.

130302 to 130326 is SDO solar eclipse season. The M1.1 flare on 130315 was partially eclipsed and the movies show only the beginning of the flare :-(