集成声光频谱分析仪（IAOSA）应用于射电天文学的展望

本文首先概述了声光频谱仪在射电天文学上应用的历史和最新发展。进而介绍了集成声光频谱分析仪(IAOSA)的基本工作原理,并给出具有100MHz带宽,2MHz分辨率的IAOSA的设计方案。最后探讨了IAOSA在射电天文学上的应用前景,及利用紫台太阳射电望远镜进行IAOSA的可行性,数据压缩,弱信号检测、干扰信号的识别等多功能实验的具体设想。     

射电天文学的功勋及宇宙生命探索（上）

自20世纪30年代接收到银河中心方向的无线电波以来,迅速发展起来一门崭新的学科——射电天文学。迄今射电天文学已经成为天文学的一个重要的分支学科,并且获得了许多激动人心的重要天文发现。射电天文学开创了研究天体物理、天体测量、宇宙的起源与演化和宇宙的大尺度结构的新途径,它正在现代天文研究中发挥着越来越大的作用。     

尖峰爆发标度律及其对新一代太阳射电望远镜参数的约束

射电观测是太阳物理和日地空间科学的重要探测手段,尤其是对于太阳爆发过程中的太阳非热粒子加速、发射和传播等过程.迄今,世界各地研制建成了上百台太阳射电望远镜,包括射电流量计、射电动态频谱仪和射电日像仪等.基于技术进步和新的科学设想,人们还在不断提出新的太阳射电望远镜计划.研制新的太阳射电望远镜时,需要考虑观测频率、带宽、时间分辨率、频率分辨率、空间分辨率、偏振精度等设计参数.事实上,过度追求高参数往往会无法实现期望的科学目标.如何合理地选择太阳射电望远镜的参数呢?长期的观测研究发现太阳射电爆发常常可分成一系列从长到短不同时标的爆发过程,其中,尖峰爆发是最小时间尺度的爆发现象,同时也是太阳上目前发现的最小空间尺度上的爆发过程,可看成一种元爆发过程,可能对应于单一的磁场重联和磁能释放.根据太阳射电天文学研究,识别尖峰爆发是对新一代太阳射电望远镜的基本要求.尖峰爆发的时间尺度和空间尺度又是随频率而变化的.从分析不同频段太阳射电尖峰爆发的时间和带宽的标度律来说明如何为新一代望远镜的设计选择合理的参数指标,并提出谱-像结合观测模式,最大程度地保证望远镜科学目标的实现.这种观测模式或将成为未来太阳射电观测的主要方式,对揭示太阳爆发现象中的非热过程的物理本质具有非常重要的意义.     

21世纪的射电天文学：仪器设备发展

回顾了射电天文设备的观测能力的提高和将遇到的限制因素，评述全波段射电天文学的型射电天文设备计划和各国射电天文学发展的一些共同特征，提出了值得借鉴的经验，为我国射电天文学的发展提供参考意见。     

数字信号处理及其应用

在过去几十年里,数字技术取得了重大发展。在很多技术科学领域都能找到它的踪影,包括射电天文学以及射电望远镜技术。 本文讨论数字信号处理技术及其应用。着重讨论数字信号处理的基本理论和基本方法,不涉及严密的数学推导。数字滤波器是讨论的重点。     

射电天文干涉图像的快速高保真重建

正射电干涉成图观测通过若干台射电望远镜的信号相关来实现天体射电图像的高角分辨率的观测.它极大地促进了天文学的发展.最近几年,大干涉阵正在筹建,如平方公里阵(SKA)、下一代甚大干涉阵(ng VLA).新的望远镜阵具有更高的灵敏度或分辨率,能测得更弱的射电源、揭示更多的细节以呈现射电源辐射的物理特征,推动天文学和天体物理学的发展.观测数据中天体的信息需要大量的像素以图像的方式来表示.然而,对于大图像的重建,现存算法的性能是非常有局限性的.本论文的目的是     

21世纪的射电天文学：仪器设备发展

本文回顾了射电天文设备的观测能力的提高和将遇到的限制因素，评述全波段射电天文学的大型射电天文设备计划和各国射电天文发展的一些共同特征，提出了值得借鉴的经验，为我国射电天文学的发展提供参考意见。     

追求更高灵敏度的射电天文学──HSRA’96国际会议简介(1996年1月,英国Jodrell Bank)

射电天文学的历史就是追求更高角分辨率和灵敏度的历史，1996年1月下旬，在英国JodreliBank的Nd田eld射电天文实验室（NRAL召开．了第一次国际“高灵敏度射电天文学”（HgRA）学术讨论会，会议共分为八个专题进行，它们是：微弱的射电话线、河外星系的射电连续借发射、宇宙学观     

美国西南部重要观测基地概览（三）

在我去过甚大阵（Very Large Array,VLA）之前,并不觉得射电天文很有意思。然而这一行,让我深刻地体会到了射电天文学的引人入胜之处。相信不少天文爱好者都看过电影《超时空接触》（由著名天文学家卡尔·萨根的小说改编而成）。电影的宣传海报背景正是VLA的射电望远镜阵,整部电影也是以VLA为拍摄背景地。     

天文小词典(1)

天文学研究天体的位置、分布、运动、形态、结构、化学组成、物理状态和演化的学科。一般分为天体测量学、天体力学、天体物理学等。天体测量学主要包括基本天体测量、照相天体测量、时间服务、纬度服务,以及射电天体测量学和空间天体测量学等;天体力学主要研究天体摄动理论、天体形状和自转理论,以及天文动力学等;天体物理学主要包括太阳物理学、太阳系物理学、恒星物理学、星系物理学、宇宙学、光学天文学、射电天文学、红外天文学、紫外天文学、×射线天文学、γ射线天文学、中微子天文学、等离子体天体物理学、相对论天体物理学等。随着科学技术的不断进步,天文学的研究范畴和天文的概念在不断扩大和发展。自古以来天文学和人类生产和生活就有着密切的关系。编历、授时、测定地理坐标、天文导     

基于小波变换的射频干扰消除方法的研究

在射电天文观测中,射频干扰(Radio Frequency Interference, RFI)会以多种形式混入望远镜接收系统,给观测带来误判或者降低观测信噪比.近年来国内国际射电天文快速发展,国内国际大型射电望远镜和阵列先后建设,观测灵敏度大为提高,射频干扰的影响尤为突出.随着科技发展和人类活动的加剧,射频干扰日益严重且不可逆转.提出利用2维离散小波变换的方法分析射电天文观测的数据,对望远镜系统输出的时间频率序列进行小波变换,根据小波系数分离出原始信号中各分量,每个分量统计得到相应的阈值,将各分量与阈值相比较识别干扰成分并标记去除.利用该方法对实际观测数据进行了处理,结果表明该方法能够很好地标记并消减干扰信号,且提高了观测的信噪比.     

相控阵馈源MVDR波束合成器缓解RFI仿真

相控阵馈源(Phased array feeds, PAFs)接收机作为下一代微波接收机, 为大口径射电天文望远镜的射电干扰(Radio Frequency Interference, RFI)缓解工作带来了新的解决方法. PAFs接收机对射电望远镜焦平面的电磁波进行空域采样, 返回时域阵列信号, 使用最小方差无失真响应(Minimum Variance Distortionless Response, MVDR)波束合成器可以自适应地识别RFI的方向, 同时抑制RFI在输出信号中的功率, 从而达到提升射电望远镜灵敏度的效果. 仿真结果表明MVDR波束合成器对有源高能量的射电干扰有很强的识别能力和一定程度的缓解能力, 同时, 该波束合成器对各阵元信道中加性噪声累积引起的无源干扰有很强的抑制能力, 因此, PAFs接收机的MVDR波束合成器可以增强日益复杂电磁波环境下射电望远镜的抗干扰能力.     

Study of Radio Frequency Interference Mitigation Method Based on Wavelet Transform

In radio astronomy observations, radio frequency interference (RFI) is mixed into the telescope receiving system in various forms. The existence of RFI brings misjudgment to the observation or reduces the observational signal-to-noise ratio. In recent years, the domestic and overseas radio astronomy has developed rapidly. Large-scale radio telescopes and telescope arrays at home and abroad have been constructed successively. Observation sensitivity is greatly improved, and the influence of RFI is particularly prominent. With the development of science and technology and the intensification of human activities, the RFI has become increasingly serious and irreversible. We propose to use the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform method to analyze the data of radio astronomy observations, and to perform wavelet transform on the time-frequency sequence output by the telescope system. According to the wavelet coefficients, the every component in the original signal is separated, and the corresponding threshold value is obtained by the statistics on each component. Each component is compared with the threshold to identify the interference component, and to mark it for removal. This method is used to process the actual observation data. The results show that this method can well mark and eliminate the interference signal, and improve the observational signal-to-noise ratio.     

射电天文中焦面阵或多波束馈源的应用

焦面阵技术或者多波束馈源系统已经日益广泛地应用于现代射电望远镜，因为它可以充分地利用同一射电望远镜反射面所能提供的信息，在观测比射电望远镜方向瓣大得多的展源时数倍乃至数十倍地提高观测的速度；当存在大气层或电离层的起伏或不均匀影响观测成像质量时，可消除这种影响，提高观测质量；利用焦面阵各单个馈源接收到的信息的互相关，则可以实时监控射电望远镜的反射面、二次反射面、指向精度，从而降低地面上大射电望远镜或空间射电望远镜的精度要求和造价。目前焦面阵已经愈来愈广泛地配置在毫米波射电望远镜和大型射电望远镜的主要波段。对此作了一个较新和全面的评述，对焦面阵应用中的限制，包括相位误差的限制和性能价格比的考虑和可能的前景作了简要的介绍。还分析了在计划中的大型主动球反射面射电望远镜（即FAST）上，配置焦面阵的相应限制、问题和难点，提出了初步的建议，并给出经中英双方讨论后初步拟定的FAST频段、波束及低噪声放大器的配置。     

一个跨世纪工程：新一代射电望远镜计划

在国际无线电科联于１９９３年９月在日本京都召开的第２４届大会上，射电在文专门委员会作出了成立大射电望远镜工作组的决议，以推动和促进跨世纪的新一代射电望远镜工程的研究和准备，这是一项广泛国际合作的巨大科学计划，ＮＧＲＴ的主要性能将比现有的，以及计划建造的最先进的射电望远镜还优一到两个数量级。本文拟介绍该计划的历史渊源和技术梗概，希望有助于我国天文界积极参与该项目的国际合作。     

Back to the future: science and technology directions for radio telescopes of the twenty-first century

The early days of radio astronomy showed incredibly diverse experimentation in ways to sample the electromagnetic spectrum at radio wavelengths. In addition to obtaining adequate sensitivity by building large collection areas, a primary goal also was to achieve sufficient angular resolution to localize radio sources for multi-wavelength identification. This led to many creative designs and the invention of aperture synthesis and VLBI. Some of the basic telescope types remain to the present day, now implemented across the entire radio spectrum from wavelengths of tens of meters to submillimeter wavelengths. In recent years, as always, there is still the drive for greater sensitivity but a primary goal is now to achieve very large fields of view to complement high resolution and frequency coverage, leading to a new phase of experimentation. This is the “back to the future” aspect of current research and development for next-generation radio telescopes. In this paper I summarize the scientific motivations for development of new technology and telescopes since about 1990 and going forward for the next decade and longer. Relevant elements include highly optimized telescope optics and feed antenna designs, innovative fabrication methods for large reflectors and dipole arrays, digital implementations, and hardware vs. software processing. The emphasis will be on meter and centimeter wavelength telescopes but I include a brief discussion of millimeter wavelengths to put the longer wavelength enterprises into perspective. I do not discuss submillimeter wavelengths because they are covered in other papers.     

Scaling-laws of Radio Spike Bursts and Their Constraints on New Solar Radio Telescopestwo

Radio observation is one of important methods in solar physics and space science. Sometimes, it is almost the sole approach to observe the physical processes such as the acceleration, emission, and propagation of non-thermal energetic particles, etc. So far, more than 100 solar radio telescopes have been built in the world, including solar radiometers, dynamic spectrometers, and radioheliographs. Some of them have been closed after the fulfillment of their primary scientific objectives, or for their malfunctions, and thus replaced by other advanced instruments. At the same time, based on some new technologies and scientific ideas, various kinds of new and much more complicated solar radio telescopes are being constructed by solar radio astronomers and space scientists, such as the American E-OVSA and the solar radio observing system under the framework of Chinese Meridian Project II, etc. When we plan to develop a new solar radio telescope, it is crucial to design the most suitable technical parameters, e.g., the observing frequency range and bandwidth, temporal resolution, frequency resolution, spatial resolution, polarization degree, and dynamic range. Then, how do we select a rational set of these parameters? The long-term observation and study revealed that a large strong solar radio burst is frequently composed of a series of small bursts with different time scales. Among them, the radio spike burst is the smallest one with the shortest lifetime, the narrowest bandwidth, and the smallest source region. Solar radio spikes are considered to be related to a single magnetic energy release process, and can be regarded as an elementary burst in solar flares. It is a basic requirement for the new solar radio telescope to observe and discriminate these solar radio spike bursts, even though the temporal and spatial scales of radio spike bursts actually vary with the observing frequency. This paper presents the scaling laws of the lifetime and bandwidth of solar radio spike bursts with respect to the observing frequency, which provide some constraints for the new solar radio telescopes, and help us to select the rational telescope parameters. Besides, we propose a spectrum-image combination mode as the best observation mode for the next-generation solar radio telescopes with high temporal, spectral, and spatial resolutions, which may have an important significance for revealing the physical essence of the various non-thermal processes in violent solar eruptions.     

Comments on the next generation of ground-based solar telescopes

The development of telescope capabilities tends to go in spurts. These are triggered by the availability of new techniques in optics, mechanics and/or instrumentation. So has nighttime telescope technology developed since the construction in the nineteen-forties of the 5-m Hale telescope, first by the introduction in the sixties of high efficiency electronic detectors, followed recently by the production of large 8- to 10-m mirrors and now by the implementation of adaptive optics. In solar astronomy, major steps were the introduction of the coronagraph by Lyot in the nineteen-thirties and the vacuum telescope concept by Dunn in the sixties. In the last thirty years, telescope developments in solar astronomy have relied primarily on improved instrumental capabilities. As in nighttime astronomy, these instruments and their detectors are reaching their limits set by the quantum nature of light and the telescope diffraction. Larger telescopes are needed to increase sensitivity and angular resolution of the observations. In this paper, I will review recent efforts to increase substantially the telescope capabilities themselves. I will emphasize the concept of a large all-wavelength, coronagraphic telescope (CLEAR) which is presently being developed.Dedicated to Cornelis de Jager     

The history of radio telescopes, 1945–1990

Forged by the development of radar during World War II, radio astronomy revolutionized astronomy during the decade after the war. A new universe was revealed, centered not on stars and planets, but on the gas between the stars, on explosive sources of unprecedented luminosity, and on hundreds of mysterious discrete sources with no optical identifications. Using “radio telescopes” that looked nothing like traditional (optical) telescopes, radio astronomers were a very different breed from traditional (optical) astronomers. This pathbreaking of radio astronomy also made it much easier for later “astronomies” and their “telescopes” (X-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, gamma-ray) to become integrated into astronomy after the launch of the space age in the 1960s. This paper traces the history of radio telescopes from 1945 through about 1990, from the era of converted small-sized, military radar antennas to that of large interferometric arrays connected by complex electronics and computers; from the era of strip-chart recordings measured by rulers to powerful computers and display graphics; from the era of individuals and small groups building their own equipment to that of Big Science, large collaborations and national observatories.     

Trying to enlarge the sky coverage of the FAST

The proposed FAST project is a novel giant spherical radio telescope, with active elements which form a temporary paraboloid to track radio objects in the sky. Efforts have been made to extend the limited sky coverage that is a characteristic disadvantage of Arecibo-style radio telescopes. Three measures under investigation are introduced in this paper. The expected performance of the telescope is described, and a brief comparison is made with some of the largest existing radio telescopes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.