Fundamentals of radio astronomy : observational methods

Description

Introductory Material Brief History of Radio Astronomy Some Fundamentals of Radio Waves Finding Our Way in the Sky Basic Structure of a Traditional Radio Telescope Radio Maps Introduction to Radiation Physics Measures of the Amount of Radiation Blackbody Radiation Rayleigh-Jeans Approximation Brightness Temperature Coherent Radiation Interference of Light Polarization of Radiation Radio Telescopes Radio Telescope Reflectors, Antennas, and Feeds Heterodyne Receivers Noise, Noise Temperature, And Antenna Temperature Bolometer Detectors Spectrometers Very Low-Frequency Radio Astronomy Single-Dish Radio Telescope Observations Basic Measurements with a Single-Dish Telescope Antenna Beam Observing Resolved versus Unresolved Sources Spectral-Line Observations Obtaining Radio Images Calibration of a Radio Telescope Telescope Sensitivity Considerations in Planning an Observation Polarization Calibration Aperture Synthesis Basics: Two-Element Interferometers Why Aperture Synthesis? Two-Element Interferometer Observations of a Single Point Source Fringe Function Visibility Function Observations of a Pair of Unresolved Sources Observations of a Single Extended Source Coherence and the Effects of Finite Bandwidth and Integration Time Basic Principles of Interferometry Aperture Synthesis: Advanced Discussion Cross-Correlation of Received Signals Complex-Valued Cross Correlation Complex Correlation of a Point Source at a Single Frequency Extended Sources and the Fourier Transform Fourier Transforms for Some Common Source Shapes Three Dimensions, the Earth's Rotation, and the Complex Fringe Function Nonzero Bandwidth and Finite Integration Time Source Structure and the Visibility Function The Earth's Rotation and uv Tracks Interferometers as Spatial Filters Sensitivity and Detection Limits Calibration Image Formation Very Long Baseline Interferometry Appendices Questions and Problems appear at the end of each chapter.