Radio JOVE

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Radio JOVE ( Old Latin jove ' God the Father ', refers to the Roman god Jupiter ) is a project of the Goddard Space Flight Center of the American aerospace authority NASA , which has existed since 1998 , through which educational institutions such as universities and secondary schools as well as amateur astronomers have access to radio astronomy Activities is made possible. As part of the project, a corresponding shortwave receiver as a kit or ready-made device , the cables and components necessary for the construction of a dipole antenna, as well as software for computer-aided data recording and evaluation are provided at low cost .

The resulting structure is a highly sensitive receiver for 15 m waves for receiving natural radio radiation from the sun and the planet Jupiter at a frequency of 20.1 megahertz . When examining the sun, it is possible, for example, to record radiation outbreaks associated with solar flares . Among other things, so-called Jupiter bursts can be observed for Jupiter , which result from the volcanic activity of its moon Io and its interactions with the planet.

The project website also provides extensive documentation on commissioning the hardware and using the software, an electronic bulletin with news and observation reports, a mailing list, as well as documents for teachers and instructions for experiments . An online archive also enables the exchange of recorded data and the comparison of own measurements with the recordings of other users. Thanks to the cooperation of the Radio JOVE project with various universities, real-time access to 20.1 MHz data from running radio telescopes is possible via the Internet.

In the first ten years since the project began, more than 1,400 Radio JOVE receivers have been distributed, approximately a third of which to users outside the United States . Furthermore, technically comparable receivers have been developed by various providers and private individuals; the use of suitable radio devices and solutions based on software-defined radio is also possible. As an alternative to the dipole antenna, which is used in the Radio-JOVE project due to its simple and inexpensive construction, space-saving antenna variants such as frame or moxon antennas can also be used.

literature

  • The NASA Radio JOVE Project. In: Steven Arnold: Getting Started in Radio Astronomy: Beginner Projects for the Amateur. Series: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series. Springer, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht and London 2013, ISBN 1-4614-8156-2 , pp. 135–167
  • Building a Jupiter Radio Telescope. In: Jeff Lashley: The Radio Sky and How to Observe It. Series: Astronomers' Observing Guides. Springer, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht and London 2010, ISBN 1-4419-0882-X , pp. 171-179
  • Martin J. Neumann, Peter Wright: Signals from Space: Radio Astronomy for Beginners. In: Günter D. Roth (Ed.): Handbook of Practical Astronomy. Springer, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht and London 2009, ISBN 3-540-76379-1 , pp. 239-254
  • By Jove, Now You've Got It. In: Dave Prochnow: 101 Outer Space Projects for the Evil Genius. McGraw-Hill Professional, New York and London 2007, ISBN 0-07-148548-1 , pp. 89-105

Web links