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I wanted to share my sigh of relief as I complete the latest stage in my development of radio meteor detection and analysis. I think that radio meteor observers probably all interested in knowing where the meteoroids were located. This was the motivation for this line of research. The culmination of work so far is a map showing the full extent of my detection range so far. The basis of the analysis is matching radio events with video events. This is not just a matter of matching times between the two sets of data but crucially employing a fundamental property of radio scatter that I refer to as the Point of Closest Approach (PCA). As a meteoroid moves along its trajectory, the total distance between transmitter to meteor and meteor to receiver changes. If this total distance passes through a minimum distance the trajectory has passed through a Point of Closest Approach. This point in space corresponds to where the “Head Echo” becomes the specular reflection trail. I used the GMN video camera meteor network to provide start and end locations for all of the resolved meteor detections during August 2024 (yes it’s taken me that long) and calculated the PCAs for the GRAVES transmitter in France and my Hayfield location. I have plotted the positions of the video PCAs with matching times with my radio events with head echoes on the azimuth-range map. As expected I found events beyond the GRAVES transmitter with the furthest radio detection some 1000km from Hayfield corresponding to a meteor from the August omicron Aquariids stream. For a rough idea of the numbers, there were just over 30,000 GMN events, 4500 radio echo events with 350 having head echoes and matching PCA and time. Mike German, Hayfield, UK
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The UK Meteor Radar project is operational with the beacon transmitter at the Sherwood observatory, and 5 receivers at four locations with their antennas beaming into the common volume above the beacon to create a bi static radar system. Live data from all the operational receivers can be viewed at https://ukmeteorbeacon.org/beaconclient/ and guidance on how to recognise meteor echoes, aircraft echoes, interference and other phenomena can be found at https://ukmeteorbeacon.org/Livedisplay . The best time to look is in the first half of the day UK local time when you can expect to see meteor echoes at a rate of 2 to 3 per minute. With the high resolution of Doppler shift offered by the live display you can expect to see some exotic echoes like this one seen only by the Blairgowrie receiver. Brian
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Next BAA RAZoom April 4th 19:30 BST H-line and muons
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Andrew Thornett will present his home observatory including H-line observations and remote access at Green Bank. Richard Knott will present Muon detector... – the next step forward. This will include instrumentation and software for data analysis and presentation. If you are not on the distribution list, please contact me for the Zoom link. -- ??? Paul Hearn ?? paul@... ?? RA Section Director ??
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Solar Storm Watch
Did anyone in this group participate in the Solar Stormwatch citizen science project ? If you did, please make contact as the UK Meteor Radar project group would like to construct a project to analyse data recorded by the meteor radar. Brian
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Announcing the SFXC Software Correlator workshop
Hands-on workshop of interest to anyone working on VLBI correlation using SFXC (via the DiFX users group). Neil Smith (appearing with Prof Hannah Fry on BBC2 TV 8pm 23 April. Already on iPlayer! https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029ktf/the-secret-genius-of-modern-life-series-3-4-doorbell ) https://youtube.com/MachiningandMicrowaves tel: +44 7555 212984 web: g4dbn.uk email: neil@... SFXC VLBI Software Correlator Workshop September 22/23, 2025 Apologies if you receive this announcement multiple times - and feel free to forward it to anyone who you believe might be interested. This workshop is aimed at individuals interested in using the Super FX Correlator ("SFXC") for software correlation of data from their own VLBI instruments (or other long-ish baseline radio interferometers), as well as scientists who want to exploit SFXC's advanced features by doing their own correlation. Workshop Overview The workshop will take place over two days, mixing theory and practical hands-on sessions at JIVE's host institute ASTRON in Dwingeloo, The Netherlands. There will also be room for discussion about future developments of SFXC (including GPU-based correlation) and suggestions for improving the SFXC documentation. Limited Participation The number of participants is limited to twenty (20) to enable a useful teacher-to-student ratio for the practical sessions. If we receive more than 20 registrations by the registration deadline of May 25th 2025, we will select participants based on the survey in the registration form (see link at the bottom of this page). Selected participants will receive confirmation before June 6th 2025. Please hold off making travel arrangements until your participation has been confirmed! Course Content Lectures will be delivered by the SFXC developers, JIVE's in-house experts, and external users already using SFXC for their own data processing. Topics will include: Correlator models Correlation preparation Mixed-bandwidth correlation Geodetic correlation Real-time correlation Post-processing of correlator output Using SFXC for space science Using SFXC for FRB localization Prerequisites We expect each participant to: Bring a laptop with an ssh client installed Have experience with radio interferometry Be familiar with a UNIX/Linux shell command-line environment Have programming experience in Python Practical Information The workshop is offered free of charge, but no travel, lodging, sustenance, or other form of financial support will be available. A block booking of hotel rooms at the nearby Hotel de Borken has been made and bicycles will be provided to commute between the hotel and ASTRON's premises. Code of Conduct JIVE and ASTRON are dedicated to providing an inclusive and safe environment for everyone: employees and visitors; therefore this workshop is covered by the Dwingeloo code of conduct. ? For workshop registration and more information, please visit our Indico page ? For questions please contact us at sfxc-workshop AT jive DOT eu
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H-line observations & Munon Detector - Now on Line
Radio Astronomy Section Zoom Friday April 4th 2025 H-line observations and remote access at Green Bank - Dr Andrew Thornett Muon detector - Richard Knott Video is now on YouTube here You can find links to previous meeting videos and associated materials here Kind Regards John B
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References for SID monitoring
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Some brilliant stuff here: https://sidstation.loudet.org/
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Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances are changes in power level of very low frequency signals detected with simple equipment in our houses that take up very little space and represent the changes in the atmosphere of Earth in response to solar flare events on the sun. Here is a recent trace from LRO – if you have never monitored SIDs then I can highly recommend it – cheap, easy, very effective and does not require Einsteinian intellectual abilities to understand (at least not the way I understand it, anyway! Andy
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Hi All, I have tried peeling off the Mylar coating on two of the petals on my solar cooker parabolic reflector – and they do come off easily as per attached photos. Andy
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Aperture Fever
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Aperture Fever Andrew Thornett For radio astronomers everywhere We started small, a modest dish, A meter wide—fulfilled the wish To scan the skies and hear the sound Of whispers faint, yet so profound. But soon enough, that would not do, The hiss was soft, but signals few. "A larger dish!" we cried in glee, And bolted steel to PVC. A garden lost, a lawn replaced By mesh and beams—oh, what a waste! Neighbours gawked, their patience frayed, As concrete footings poured and stayed. Yet still, the noise, the cursed din, A cosmic murmur, weak and thin! Aperture grows, but so does need, The hunger swells, a beast to feed. A thousand dishes, phased in line, Their shadows stretch, a grand design. The town petitioned, courts decreed: "Remove the menace!"—Would we heed? Oh no, dear friends, for stars still call, From voids beyond this mortal thrall. To fainter whispers we aspire, And so, the aperture grows… still wider. And when at last the Earth is tiled With metal plates in fashion wild, We’ll turn our sights, with bold delight, To building one upon the Moon… good night.
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For the members of the H-line group....The Last Transmission
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The Last Transmission Andrew Thornett For the members of the BAA H-line group They sit in sheds with wires and screens, Tracking signals, chasing dreams. Not for aliens, not for fun— Just mapping gas ‘round a dying sun. Dishes wobble, creak, and groan, Old and rusted, overgrown. Neighbours whisper, eyes askance— "They haven't moved in months, perchance?" At 1420 megahertz, The cosmos hums, the signal spurts. A spectral line so cold, so thin, Like ghostly whispers creeping in. Through hiss and pop, through static's moan, They plot the Galaxy—starved, alone. A labour born of love and terrible dread, For stars will die, but the dish needs to be fed. One by one, they drop like flies, Under silent, watchful and reproachful skies. No one comes, no one calls, Just a dish that listens… and never falls. Years will pass, the metal might rust, J2000 charts dissolve to cosmic dust. But still: The Milky Way drifts by, Above the graves of those who tried. A little grim, but fittingly poetic for the relentless, lonely pursuit of the universe!
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Jeff Lashley
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Does anyone have contact details for Jeff Lashley I'm trying to contact him - thanks. -- ??? Paul Hearn ?? paul@... ?? RA Section Director ??
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Some interesting echoes this morning. The UK Meteor Radar project has now started recording the full bandwidth data from all the receivers in the network for development and research purposes. An archive of these recordings can be found at https://ukmeteorbeacon.org/LivestreamRecordingsList Brian
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Why, oh why?
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The Hidden Wonders of the Sky Andrew Thornett, March 2025 Why, oh why, can they not see – The wonder of a starry sky – Seen with starlight not visible without, The wonders of the modern world. Beacons blink in cosmic song, Billions whisper all night long, Between the voids where giants spin, Bringing secrets deep within. Celestial signals, faint yet bright, Calling from the edge of sight, Caught by aerials tuned with care, Cracking codes from distant air. Daring pulses race through space, Dancing waves in endless chase, Drifting, shifting, bending light, Drawing minds to scale their height. Echoes trace a past unknown, Eons speaking, softly shown, Eager ears and patient hands Extract what deep time still demands. Far beyond the eye’s own reach, Frequencies in silent speech Find their way to those who dare Follow trails through frozen air. Gazing upward, lost in thought, Galaxies with wonder fraught, Grains of truth in static lie— Grasp them, question, ask them why! Would they listen? Would they care? Why, oh why, don’t they just stare? What is lost if minds stay blind When the universe calls—unkind?
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Possible study area
Today’s Space Weather News carries a story on Cosmic rays initiating lightning. https://spaceweather.com/ . I do not monitor Muons but, if I remember correctly they are also the source of Muons. Has anyone looked for coincidences between the two? Mike German
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Inaugural Meeting of BAA RAG H Line Group - Now online
Hi Radio Astronomy Section Monday the 19th March Inaugural Meeting of BAA RAG H Line Group by Dr Andrew Thornett Video is now on YouTube here You can find links to previous meeting videos and associated materials here Kind Regards John B
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Below is my spectrum of M101 taken with 20m Skynet radio dish at Green Bank: 10 x 1s observations, with 10 x 1s reference samples (every other observation sample) 1.5 degrees apart. Peak is at -250 km/s. This matches Wikipedia record = Heliocentric radial velocity 241 ± 2 km/s The following graph is published on ResearchGate, and comes from “An improved CESE method and its application to steady-state coronal structure simulation”, June 2013, Science China Earth Sciences 57(1). Looking at the graphs above, 250 km/s = 5-6 R (MPc) distance from ourselves on radial line of site (rlRs). From Wikipedia, Distance to M101 from Earth = 20.9 ± 1.8 Mly (6.4 ± 0.5 Mpc). So, my observations match closely to published data on velocity and distance of M101. All those astrophotographers in my astronomy club with remote observing rigs they rent ain’t seen nothing yet……I’ve got a 20m scope at Green Bank Observatory!!!! Yippee! Andy
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Radio Meteor Workshop
There may be interest from members of this Group in this topic. The International Meteor Organsiation has opened its page for registration at the 44th International Meteor Conference (IMC25) in Soest, The Netherlands from September 18 to 21. The Conference will have a number of papers specifically on Radio Meteor topics as well as other meteor topics. In addition this year, a Radio Metor Workshop is planned with the chance to participate in round-the-table discussions and to listen to or present papers on a less formal basis than the main IMC. In the past this has been attended by amateur and professional radio meteor astronomers. Unfortunately I will not be attending this year but plan to join in on-line. All details via the link https://imc2025.imo.net/ Mike
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My first observations with the 20m radio telescope at Green Bank. Andy
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Help with Observations
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Hello Folks I am looking for help in making regular meteor observations using the UK meteor radar system. See the live stream at :- https://ukmeteorbeacon.org/beaconclient/ We are seeing some very interesting effects from the network of ( currently ) 4 receiving sites. I am unable to make systematic observations on a regular basis due to ongoing commitments on this project and other matters but the system is available to all to make a contribution. I can give some guidance on what to look for on a personal basis so if you are interested and available please get in touch. All the best Brian for the UK meteor radar project.
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Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am