For our November club meeting, Jim Van Prooyen, N8PQK, and fellow Grand Rapids Radio Observatory member, Rich Nagel, presented a program on Amateur Radio Astronomy. Jim studies Neutron Stars (Pulsars), which produce radio signals. Pulsars are the remainder of a star, mostly a mass of neutrons.

Some amateur astronomers study the earth’s ionosphere (around 40 kc), Jupiter noise, or pulsars (around 406.7 mhz), among other facets of astronomy.

Currently, Jim’s group (Grand Rapids Radio Observatory) is involved in a study of known pulsars (about 1500 known). Every pulsar has a unique spin period. The direction of the signal moves as the star turns. This enables each pulsar to be uniquely identified.

Pictures of Jim’s station can be seen on the group’s website at http://www.grro.org. A copy of Jim’s PowerPoint presentation is also available below along with other Radio Astronomy resources.

Many thanks to Jim and Rich for a fascinating presentation.

Related links:
Radio Astronomy Supplies: Receivers just for radio astronomy

NASA Radio Jove: HF Receiver used to observe Jupiter

NASA Project Inspire: VLF Receiver

NASA Basics of Radio Astronomy: A work book that you can download

SARA: Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers

Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI): A public not-for-profit public foundation dedicated to providing research and educational access to radio and optical astronomy for a broad cross-section of users.

Natural Radio: From Plate Tectonics to Particle Physics, Natural Radio is any electromagnetic energy which occurs in Nature. Such phenomena have been around since before we had the technology to detect them.