Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008aas...212.3002m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #212, #30.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.229
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
You've just purchased your first telescope. But where to set it up? Certainly not a WalMart parking lot. Too much light pollution! In the same way that man-made light obscures our night sky and blinds ground-based optical telescopes, man-made radio signals blind radio telescopes as well. NRAO developed the Quiet Skies project to increase awareness of radio frequency interference (RFI) and radio astronomy in general by engaging students in local studies of RFI.
To do that we created a sensitive detector which measures RFI. We produced 20 of these, and assembled kits containing detectors and supplementary materials for loan to schools. Students conduct experiments to measure the properties of RFI in their area, and input their measurements into a web-based data base.
The Quiet Skies project is a perfect complement to the IYA Dark Skies Awareness initiative. We hope to place 500 Quiet Skies detectors into the field through outreach to museums and schools around the world. Should we be successful, we will sustain this global initiative via a continuing loan program. One day we hope to have a publicly generated image of the Earth which shows RFI much as the Earth at Night image illustrates light pollution.
The poster will present the components of the project in detail, including our plans for IYA, and various low-cost alternative strategies for introducing RFI and radio astronomy to the public. We will share the results of some of the experiments already being performed by high school students.
Development of the Quiet Skies project was funded by a NASA IDEAS grant. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
Heatherly S.
Maddalena Ronald J.
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