A study of radio telescopes at three centimeters and one meter

Abstract

This thesis is the end result of the initial stages of the radio astronomy program at Saint Mary’s University. The main objective of the project was to build a working radio telescope and to test some important properties of receiver systems for 3 centimeters and 1 meter. Also the feasibility of a 3 centimeter and 1 meter interferometer would be explored. The radio sun and its properties are described in Chapter II. Chapter III discusses the basic electronics and the development of the two receiver systems. Chapter IV describes the construction of a two-element transit interferometer operating at 3 centimeters. A discussion of sensitivity tests follows the construction phases. The unexpectedly low solar flux at 3 centimeters required that the effort of the thesis be turned to the 1 meter telescope system discussed in Chapter V, and this was used for several weeks of observations. Finally, Appendix C discusses the successful acquisition of fringes with a prototype 1 meter solar interferometer.