A World-Wide Net of Solar Radio Spectrometers: e-CALLISTO

Radio spectrometers of the CALLISTO type to observe solar flares have been distributed to nine locations around the globe. The instruments observe automatically, their data is collected every day via internet and stored in a central data base. A public web-interface exists through which data can be browsed and retrieved. The nine instruments form a network called e-CALLISTO. It is still growing in the number of stations, as redundancy is desirable for full 24 h coverage of the solar radio emission in the meter and low decimeter band. The e-CALLISTO system has already proven to be a valuable new tool for monitoring solar activity and for space weather research.     

Callisto – A New Concept for Solar Radio Spectrometers

A new radio spectrometer, CALLISTO, is presented. It is a dual-channel frequency-agile receiver based on commercially available consumer electronics. Its major characteristic is the low price for hardware and software, and the short assembly time, both two or more orders of magnitude below existing spectrometers. The instrument is sensitive at the physical limit and extremely stable. The total bandwidth is 825 MHz, and the width of individual channel is 300 kHz. A total of 1000 measurements can be made per second. The spectrometer is well suited for solar low-frequency radio observations pertinent to space weather research. Five instruments of the type were constructed until now and put into operation at several sites, including Bleien (Zurich) and NRAO (USA). First results in the 45–870 MHz range are presented. Some of them were recorded in a preliminary setup during the time of high solar activity in October and November 2003.     

日食的射电观测(英)

日食为射电天文提供了一维高空间分辨率太阳射电观测机会．日食射电观测在太阳射电物理的发展上起过重要的作用．文中对日食射电观测的若干重要因素作了介绍和分析．日食射电观测在我国太阳射电天文发展上也起了重要作用．文中简要介绍了在我国组织观测的1958年、1968年、1980年及1987年的太阳射电日食观测及其主要结果．     

毫米波太阳射电的观测研究

综述了毫米波太阳射电的观测研究概况，着重介绍一些中，大型的毫米波太阳射电观测设备最新的观测结果。     

Spike observations in flares in China

Variations on short time-scales have been found in solar flares at different wavelengths. Millisecond scale radio spikes are a quickly developing area of solar radio astronomy. The solar radio astronomy group of Beijing Astronomical Observatory (BAO) has found fine structures of microwave bursts with millisecond time-scale at 2840 MHz. In this paper, we briefly summarize the observations. A joint-observation network for observing solar radio bursts with high time resolution has also been established. The equipment in the network covers a frequency domain of more than 10:1, including 1.3, 2.0, 6, 10, 15, 20 cm, and meter wavelengths. In particular, a multi-channel polarimeter with super-fast sampling (10 s) at 2600 MHz, an intensity interferometer with 1 ms sampling rate at 6 cm wavelength, and an auto-correlation radio spectrograph with 8 ms time constant at 21 cm wavelength are being established. We pay close attention to research on the spike emission features over wide bands, and their relationship to special characteristics in other spectral ranges.     

LSTM neural network for solar radio spectrum classification

A solar radio spectrometer records solar radio radiation in the radio waveband. Such solar radio radiation spanning multiple frequency channels and over a short time period could provide a solar radio spectrum which is a two dimensional image. The vertical axis of a spectrum represents frequency channel and the horizontal axis signifies time. Intrinsically, time dependence exists between neighboring columns of a spectrum since solar radio radiation varies continuously over time. Thus, a spectrum can be treated as a time series consisting of all columns of a spectrum, while treating it as a general image would lose its time series property. A recurrent neural network(RNN) is designed for time series analysis. It can explore the correlation and interaction between neighboring inputs of a time series by augmenting a loop in a network.This paper makes the first attempt to utilize an RNN, specifically long short-term memory(LSTM), for solar radio spectrum classification. LSTM can mine well the context of a time series to acquire more information beyond a non-time series model. As such, as demonstrated by our experimental results, LSTM can learn a better representation of a spectrum, and thus contribute better classification.     

用SAVQ技术实现太阳射电频谱的数据压缩

对自适应矢量量化（SAVQ）技术在太阳射电频谱数据压缩中的应用进行了有意义的讨论．给出一种压缩比和失真可调的SAVQ压缩方法,指出提高数据压缩比的有效方法之一为样本集成,同时介绍了用该技术对北京天文台太阳射电频谱仪上的两个波段（1．0GHz－2．0GHz和2．6GHz－3．8GHz）的观测数据进行压缩的实用效果,并与国际同行所用的ICON方式进行性能比较．最后展示了数据压缩技术及其在天文上的应用．     

Observations of Low Frequency Solar Radio Bursts from the Rosse Solar-Terrestrial Observatory

The Rosse Solar-Terrestrial Observatory (RSTO; www.rosseobservatory.ie ) was established at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly, Ireland (53°05′38.9″, 7°55′12.7″) in 2010 to study solar radio bursts and the response of the Earth’s ionosphere and geomagnetic field. To date, three Compound Astronomical Low-cost Low-frequency Instrument for Spectroscopy in Transportable Observatory (CALLISTO) spectrometers have been installed, with the capability of observing in the frequency range of 10?–?870 MHz. The receivers are fed simultaneously by biconical and log-periodic antennas. Nominally, frequency spectra in the range of 10?–?400 MHz are obtained with four sweeps per second over 600 channels. Here, we describe the RSTO solar radio spectrometer set-up, and present dynamic spectra of samples of type II, III and IV radio bursts. In particular, we describe the fine-scale structure observed in type II bursts, including band splitting and rapidly varying herringbone features.     

云南天文台太阳射电研究进展

回顾了自１９７９年以来云南天文台太阳射电天文仪器、技术和方法以及研究方面的进展。     

我国地基雷达观测月球的现状和研究进展

地基雷达观测可以提供太阳系天体目标的地形地貌、物理特征、轨道动力等信息。聚焦利用地基雷达天文技术开展月球观测的原理方法和科学意义,介绍了基于我国现有深空雷达上行装置、射电望远镜条件以及非相干散射雷达等系统,初步开展的特高频段(Ultra High Frequency,UHF)和X频段的地基雷达观测月球试验。通过月球反射回波的信号处理,获得了延迟、多普勒频移等参数,得到了一致的与近表层物质密度相关的月面雷达反射率,并得到了月球的左右旋圆极化率,反映了与波长同尺度的月球近表层结构。文章积累的数据处理经验将为我国的小行星预警、行星历表等地基雷达观测研究提供技术基础。     

Antenna design and implementation for the future space Ultra-Long wavelength radio telescope

In radio astronomy, the Ultra-Long Wavelengths (ULW) regime of longer than 10 m (frequencies below 30 MHz), remains the last virtually unexplored window of the celestial electromagnetic spectrum. The strength of the science case for extending radio astronomy into the ULW window is growing. However, the opaqueness of the Earth’s ionosphere makes ULW observations by ground-based facilities practically impossible. Furthermore, the ULW spectrum is full of anthropogenic radio frequency interference (RFI). The only radical solution for both problems is in placing an ULW astronomy facility in space. We present a concept of a key element of a space-borne ULW array facility, an antenna that addresses radio astronomical specifications. A tripole–type antenna and amplifier are analysed as a solution for ULW implementation. A receiver system with a low power dissipation is discussed as well. The active antenna is optimized to operate at the noise level defined by the celestial emission in the frequency band 1 ? 30 MHz. Field experiments with a prototype tripole antenna enabled estimates of the system noise temperature. They indicated that the proposed concept meets the requirements of a space-borne ULW array facility.     

地基雷达技术及其在太阳系天体探测中的应用

人类利用雷达波进行天文研究距今已有40多年历史了.它是一种发射雷达波到目标天体,通过分析其回波特性来进行天文探测的技术.该文从地基雷达在太阳系天体探测中的应用出发,分析了地基雷达相比其他探测手段的优点;介绍了地基雷达的基本工作原理;给出了近年来地基雷达的发展情况和探测成果;最后从现有条件出发,探讨了我国开展地基雷达探测的设想.     

太阳射电日像仪的进步与发展

叙述了太阳射电天文和太阳物理上作出过杰出贡献的几个射电日像仪的概况及其进步与发展,并简述了未来射电日像仪可以完成的科学目标以及应具有的特点,以期为在２１世纪我国实现“一颗空间Ｘ射线卫星、一座红外太阳塔和一台射电像仪”的宏伟构想提供研制依据。     

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.     

Formation of zebra patterns of solar microwave bursts as a result of propagation of radio waves through the inhomogeneous corona

The geoefficiency of solar bursts is diagnosed using the dynamic radio emission spectrum. At certain time intervals, the spectrum exhibits nearly parallel narrow-band emission strips termed the zebra pattern. Although there are many hypotheses of its origin, all of them do not take into account changes in the signal parameters upon signal propagation through the solar corona. Our analysis shows that the propagation effects form a dynamic spectrum that contains a zebra pattern. The properties of the modeled spectrum are shown to coincide with the basic properties of the observed spectrum. It is clarified that the spike structure of strips is a natural consequence of the interference of radio waves, and the occurrence of this structure is considered to be evidence in favor of the interference nature of the zebra pattern formation. Consequently, the zebra pattern can be formed not in the radiation source itself, but rather can arise as a result of propagation of radio waves through an inhomogeneous refracting medium of the solar corona.     

Search for possible exomoons with the FAST telescope

Our knowledge of the solar system encourages us to believe that we might expect exomoons to be present around some known exoplanets. With present hardware and existing optical astronomy methods, we do not expect to be able to find exomoons for at least 10 years, and even then, it will be a hard task to detect them. Using data from the Exoplanet Orbit Database(EOD) we find stars with Jovian exoplanets within 50 light years. Most of them will be fully accessible by the new radio telescope, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST), under construction which is now in the test phase. We suggest radio astronomy based methods to search for possible exomoons around two exoplanets.     

Solar radio filtering algorithm based on improved long short-term memory

The effective observation of burst events in solar radio research has been impeded by various interference signals,especially interference signals with a wide frequency range and high intensity,as they can partially or completely obscure the observation of burst events.Image processing methods that directly remove the interference signal channels and subtract the average of the interference signal channel are not suitable for processing all types of interference signals.This paper proposes the use of a specific kind of recurrent neural networks,called long short-term memory networks,to predict the value of the radio frequency interference signals with high intensity of the burst event in the solar radio spectrum.The predicted interference can then be removed in accordance with the principle that signals can be linearly added.Therefore,predicted value is subtracted from the data containing the burst event signals and the RFI signals(The radio frequency interference signals to be processed in this article refer to the signal of the broadcast signal that can be received in the frequency range,the signal transmitted by the mobile phone,and the signal transmitted by the sea vessel,and the like) to remove the interference.Then,in order to reduce the error caused by the stepwise prediction in the network and further improve the prediction accuracy,this paper analyzes the characteristics of the value of the radio interference and applies the digital mapping method to convert the prediction problem into the classification problem in the time series.The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively remove the radio interference in the solar spectrum and clearly show the burst events.     

The faint radio sky: radio astronomy becomes mainstream

Radio astronomy has changed. For years it studied relatively rare sources, which emit mostly non-thermal radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, i.e. radio quasars and radio galaxies. Now, it is reaching such faint flux densities that it detects mainly star-forming galaxies and the more common radio-quiet active galactic nuclei. These sources make up the bulk of the extragalactic sky, which has been studied for decades in the infrared, optical, and X-ray bands. I follow the transformation of radio astronomy by reviewing the main components of the radio sky at the bright and faint ends, the issue of their proper classification, their number counts, luminosity functions, and evolution. The overall “big picture” astrophysical implications of these results, and their relevance for a number of hot topics in extragalactic astronomy, are also discussed. The future prospects of the faint radio sky are very bright, as we will soon be flooded with survey data. This review should be useful to all extragalactic astronomers, irrespective of their favourite electromagnetic band(s), and even stellar astronomers might find it somewhat gratifying.     

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.     

Fast radio burst search: cross spectrum vs. auto spectrum method

The search for fast radio bursts(FRBs) is a hot topic in current radio astronomy studies. In this work, we carry out a single pulse search with a very long baseline interferometry(VLBI) pulsar observation data set using both auto spectrum and cross spectrum search methods. The cross spectrum method,first proposed in Liu et al., maximizes the signal power by fully utilizing the fringe phase information of the baseline cross spectrum. The auto spectrum search method is based on the popular pulsar software package PRESTO, which extracts single pulses from the auto spectrum of each station. According to our comparison, the cross spectrum method is able to enhance the signal power and therefore extract single pulses from data contaminated by high levels of radio frequency interference(RFI), which makes it possible to carry out a search for FRBs in regular VLBI observations when RFI is present.