FANTOZZI1997-99
26-08-2008, 01:19
Breaking News
Press Release - 4 August 2008
DUT Indlebe Radio Telescope Sees First Light
On the evening of 28th July 2008, at 21h14 local time the Indlebe Radio Telescope, situated on the Steve Biko campus of the Durban University of Technology, successfully detected its first radio source from beyond the solar system. A strong source was detected from Sagittarius A, the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy, approximately 30 thousand light years away.
It should be noted that this is not an intelligent source, i.e. it is not a source that could be considered as having been transmitted by alien intelligence. Furthermore, it is certainly not a new discovery. The electromagnetic radiation emanating from Sagittarius A is well documented and an entirely natural phenomenon. A similar signal, although of a much larger magnitude, would be received by simply pointing the telescope at the Sun.
However, to put this achievement into perspective, the energy gained by a grain of rice falling 2 cm in the earth’s gravity to a plate is more than the total energy received by all the radio telescopes in the world operating since 1960. This means that very sensitive radio receiving equipment is required to detect these faint sources.
The Indlebe project was initiated in 2006 by the Department of Electronic Engineering with the primary object of providing engineering projects and research opportunities to undergraduate and postgraduate students working on a real-world complex electronic system. A secondary objective was to provide a vehicle to increase awareness and interest of secondary school students in the fields of Science, Engineering and Technology (SET), and to promote local awareness of the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy in 2009 (IYA2009).
Indlebe is the Zulu word for ear, an appropriate name for the project when one views the 5 m diameter parabolic reflector antenna of the telescope from above. The telescope is a transit instrument which operates at the Hydrogen Line frequency of 1420 MHz and uses a very sensitive radio receiver to detect extra terrestrial radio sources. A remarkable aspect of the project is that all the hardware, from the antenna and feedhorn to the final analog to digital converter providing a digital representation of the detected source to a pc, has been designed by students and constructed on campus. It is intended that the received data will shortly be made available in real time to interested persons who will be able to graph the data using freely available software.
For further information contact the project leader Stuart MacPherson via email on stuartm@dut.ac.za (stuartm@dut.ac.za) or by phone on +27 31 373 2538.
http://indlebe.dut.ac.za/graphics/skyeyesflmod.jpg
Press Release - 4 August 2008
DUT Indlebe Radio Telescope Sees First Light
On the evening of 28th July 2008, at 21h14 local time the Indlebe Radio Telescope, situated on the Steve Biko campus of the Durban University of Technology, successfully detected its first radio source from beyond the solar system. A strong source was detected from Sagittarius A, the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy, approximately 30 thousand light years away.
It should be noted that this is not an intelligent source, i.e. it is not a source that could be considered as having been transmitted by alien intelligence. Furthermore, it is certainly not a new discovery. The electromagnetic radiation emanating from Sagittarius A is well documented and an entirely natural phenomenon. A similar signal, although of a much larger magnitude, would be received by simply pointing the telescope at the Sun.
However, to put this achievement into perspective, the energy gained by a grain of rice falling 2 cm in the earth’s gravity to a plate is more than the total energy received by all the radio telescopes in the world operating since 1960. This means that very sensitive radio receiving equipment is required to detect these faint sources.
The Indlebe project was initiated in 2006 by the Department of Electronic Engineering with the primary object of providing engineering projects and research opportunities to undergraduate and postgraduate students working on a real-world complex electronic system. A secondary objective was to provide a vehicle to increase awareness and interest of secondary school students in the fields of Science, Engineering and Technology (SET), and to promote local awareness of the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy in 2009 (IYA2009).
Indlebe is the Zulu word for ear, an appropriate name for the project when one views the 5 m diameter parabolic reflector antenna of the telescope from above. The telescope is a transit instrument which operates at the Hydrogen Line frequency of 1420 MHz and uses a very sensitive radio receiver to detect extra terrestrial radio sources. A remarkable aspect of the project is that all the hardware, from the antenna and feedhorn to the final analog to digital converter providing a digital representation of the detected source to a pc, has been designed by students and constructed on campus. It is intended that the received data will shortly be made available in real time to interested persons who will be able to graph the data using freely available software.
For further information contact the project leader Stuart MacPherson via email on stuartm@dut.ac.za (stuartm@dut.ac.za) or by phone on +27 31 373 2538.
http://indlebe.dut.ac.za/graphics/skyeyesflmod.jpg