Radio Astronomy: An Introduction

Designed for a course in radio astronomy or for use as a reference for practicing engineers and astronomers, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the topic. It begins with the history of radio astronomy then explains the fundamentals, polarization, designing radio telescopes, understanding radio arrays, interferometers, receiving systems, mapping techniques, image processing and propagation effects in relation to radio astronomy. A special chapter in the end presents the GMRT radio array as an example of the explained techniques. This revised edition has been supplemented with context-connection boxes, including NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN),the South Pole Telescope (SPT), the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), pulsar dispersion and distance, and plane waves in conducting and dielectric media. Three appendices have been added on radiation potential formalism, the physics of radio spectral lines, and a table of world radio observatories. Several problems have been added to emphasize the physical aspects of radio astronomy. Supplementary materials and all textbook figures are included on the companion disc[COMPANION DISC FILES AVAILABLE WITH AMAZON PROOF OF PURCHASE by writing to info@merclearning.com]. FEATURES · + Begins with the history of radio astronomy then explains the fundamentals, polarization, designing radio telescopes, understanding radio arrays, interferometers, receiving systems, mapping techniques, image processing and propagation effects in relation to radio astronomy + Includes a companion CD-ROM with numerous color images, NASA links, etc.CONTENTS1 Foundation Of Radio Astronomy. 2 Fundamentals Of Radio Astronomy.3 Polarization Analysis.4 Designing Single Dishes And Phased Arrays.5 Interferometry And Radio Arrays. 6 Receiving Systems.7 Interferometer Aperture Synthesis And Radio Mapping.8 Interferometer Data Calibration And Image Processing.9 Propagation Effects In Radio Astronomy 10 The Gmrt Radio Array.A Coordinate Systems Used In Radio Astronomy.B Antenna Terminology For Radio Telescopes. C Radiation Potential Formulation. D Radio Spectral Lines. E Radio Observatories. Bibliography. Index. About the Authors: S. Joardar, PhD, is the senior engineer and scientific officer at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He is a fellow of the Institute of the Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers and his major field of work has been in microwaves, antennas, astronomical radio spectrographs, RFI instrumentations, and data analysis for radio astronomy. J.Claycomb, PhD is an associate professor of physics at Houston Baptist University. Read more