#radioastronomy — Public Fediverse posts

Tonight I RFI hunted one potential location for my Discovery Dish Hydrogen Line Radio Telescope. RFI sweeps were performed with my HackRF, and Airspy on a dummy load and a 1420 MHz whip antenna purpose built to detect RFI.

jansky-observe dashboard proudly announced HI DETECTED 🧐 from a 50 Ω terminator? it was the receivers own spur at 1421.484 MHz

I learned about LO-shift spur discrimination today 🥳

#RadioAstronomy #Astrodon #HydrogenLine #SDR #OpenScience

RFI hunting around 1420MHz soon 📡

#radioastronomy #hydrogenline

Discovery Dish and Hydrogen Line Discovery Feed have arrived!

#discoverydish #hydrogenline #radioastronomy #openscience

Smallest Ever Odd Radio Circle Creates a New Mystery - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZcAT8hobo4

#Astronomy #RadioAstronomy #Cosmology

📡 Radio astronomy + open data: China's FAST telescope discovered the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J0435+3233 (3.2 ms spin, ~3,900 ly away), and archival data from NASA's Fermi gamma-ray telescope revealed gamma-ray pulsations from it too — a neat pairing of radio and gamma observations.
📅 17 Jul 2026
🔗 https://phys.org/news/2026-07-gamma-ray-pulsations-reveal-extreme.html
#RadioAstronomy #Astronomy #Science

📡💥 First-ever "magnetic fingerprint" of a gamma-ray burst! The VLA radio telescope (NRAO) detected polarized radio waves and Faraday rotation in the afterglow of GRB 260310A. The surrounding magnetic field is thousands of times stronger than our galaxy's — the burst exploded in an HII region around a massive star.
📅 Jul 14, 2026
🔗 https://public.nrao.edu/news/gamma-ray-burst-vla/
#RadioAstronomy #Astronomy #Science

📡 The VLASS radio survey is complete! NRAO's Very Large Array scanned 80% of the sky over three epochs, producing ~2 petabytes of open data – the most detailed radio map of the sky ever, matching optical surveys in resolution. It fuels hunts for supernovae, magnetic-field mapping and galaxy studies. (29 Jul 2026)

#RadioAstronomy #DataScience
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/radio-astronomy-is-getting-a-big-boost-from-the-vlas-new-sky-survey

📡 The amateur CARMELo network (Italy, Spain, UK, Switzerland) tracks meteors by radio: 17 SDR + Raspberry Pi receivers (~€210) listen for echoes off France's GRAVES radar. June data caught the daytime Arietids – homogeneous and open. A lovely example of citizen radio astronomy. (11 Jul 2026)

#RadioAstronomy #Bolidozor #CitizenScience #Robotics
https://www.emeteornews.net/2026/07/11/june-2026-carmelo-report/

Radio astronomy: the most sensitive search yet for technosignatures from exoplanet K2-18b. The VLA and MeerKAT radio telescopes watched the system for 33 days (a full planetary "year") across 544 MHz–9.8 GHz. No artificial signals were found, but the team demonstrated a faster method for future SETI surveys.
🔗 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260712011748.htm
#RadioAstronomy #Astronomy #Vesmir

Detecting Dark Matter from your backyard 🤩

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49123579

#RadioAstronomy #OpenScience #CitizenScience #Astronomy

📡 Open radio-telescope data: "FAST Pulsar Database III" (July 2026) delivers snapshots of nulling, mode-changing and subpulse modulation for 374 pulsars observed by China's FAST telescope. A valuable public catalogue for studying how neutron stars produce radio emission.

(July 2026)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.03047

#RadioAstronomy #DataScience #Astronomy

Here is a screenshot of jansky-observe running with a synthetic source, I can't wait to start recording some actual data!

Real sky when the parts land.

#RadioAstronomy #Astrodon #Python

Hi 👋

I'm Joe, a software engineer in Philadelphia teaching myself radio astronomy.

I'm building open-source Python tools as I learn: a course, a framework for reproducible research on public archives, and control software for a Discovery Dish station I'm still assembling. No first light yet.

Mostly here to learn from people who actually do this. Expect hydrogen line observing, public archives, and honest null results.

#introduction #radioastronomy #astronomy #Astrodon #python #opensource

The universe's missing ordinary matter—unaccounted for in the mass of current stars and galaxies—exists in highly diffuse clouds or "puffs" of gas that extend up to four million light-years around galaxy groups.
#Astrophysics #Cosmology #RadioAstronomy #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/asph07212601.html

A group of us visited the Dwingeloo radiotelescope on Sunday. I've often cycled down there to ride over the heath or sit near the radio telescope and eat my lunch, but not been on a guided tour before. I recommend it. You can currently book a tour on Sundays and Wednesdays in July and August.

Real discoveries were made here. This was once the largest radiotelescope in the world, a title which of course it has not held for many years.

But the telescope can now do more than it could in the 1950s and 60s because its capability is enhanced by modern software. This made it possible for the wonderful enthusiastic amateurs who now run the telescope to demonstrate things to us within five minutes which once took months for a group of scientists to work out.

More information here:
https://www.camras.nl/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwingeloo_Radio_Observatory

@radiotelescoop
#camras #dwingeloo #dwingelooradiotelescoop #radioastronomy #drenthe

Astronomers have generated the highest-resolution maps to date of neutral atomic hydrogen in the Orion Nebula, revealing previously unseen structures, such as giant expanding shells and cavities.
#Astrophysics #RadioAstronomy #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/asph07092601.html

📡 Radio meteors – June 2026: an observer in Kampenhout (BE) published a survey of reflections on the VVS 49.99 MHz beacon. The daytime Arietids and ζ Perseids dominated; 9 echoes lasted over a minute this month. Raw data are freely downloadable as CSV. Citizen radio astronomy in action.

🔗 Source (3 Jul 2026): https://www.emeteornews.net/2026/07/03/radio-meteors-june-2026/

#RadioAstronomy #Bolidozor #CitizenScience

📡 New open catalogue from Europe's LOFAR radio telescope: the LoTSS-DR3 survey searched 3,822 galaxy clusters and used an automated (ML) pipeline to detect diffuse radio emission in the intracluster medium — the largest such sample yet. Data & detection pipeline openly available. (Jun 2026)

🔗 https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/06/aa59444-26/aa59444-26.html

#RadioAstronomy #DataScience #Astronomy #Science

A radio image of a jet from a quasar in the galaxy Virgo A, as observed by Japan's Very Long Baseline Interferometry space observatory.

#space #science #radioastronomy #astronomy

Most of the world Wi-Fi usage operates around the 2.4 GHz band (allocated spectrum).

That means our telescopes have to cut that portion of the band out when doing #RadioAstronomy

Tommy from our team has tested some mitigation methods and found we can use 90% of this band!

https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.30761

Während wir hier in Bonn schwitzen ☀️, arbeiten unsere Empfänger an Radioteleskopen unter nahezu „kosmischen Bedingungen“: Sie sind dem absoluten Nullpunkt sehr nahe ❄️.

Damit wir „hören” können, was das Universum uns sendet 📡, werden zentrale Teile der Empfänger auf etwa -260 °C gekühlt 🧊. Diese kryogenen Systeme gehören zu den Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) und Receiver-Komponenten der Electronics Division am MPIfR.

Ihre Aufgabe ist es, kosmische Radiosignale zu verstärken, ohne dass diese im eigenen elektronischen Rauschen untergehen 📉. Das Ergebnis sind Empfänger, die so empfindlich sind, dass selbst die schwächsten Signale aus dem All messbar werden 🌌.

Zum Vergleich: Ein Smartphone würde auf dem Mond im Radiobereich ein deutlich messbares Signal erzeugen 📱🌕 – und wäre damit im Vergleich zu vielen astrophysikalischen Quellen sehr stark.

Erfahrt mehr über unsere Abteilung Electronics Division: https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/technology/electronics

#Radioastronomy #MPIfR #Engineering #Cryogenics #SpaceScience

📡 Radio astronomy: South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope detected the most distant hydroxyl megamaser known — a cosmic “laser” in merging galaxies over 8 billion light-years away (HATLAS J142935.3–002836). A taste of what future MeerKAT and SKA surveys will reveal.
Source (9 Jun 2026): https://phys.org/news/2026-06-south-african-telescope-recordbreaking-early.html
#RadioAstronomy #Astronomy #Space

📡 Radio Meteor Zoo: Belgium's BRAMS radio-meteor network teams up with Zooniverse, inviting volunteers to spot meteor echoes in radio spectrograms. The current campaign targets the year's strongest daytime showers — the Arietids and ζ Perseids. Human eyes still beat the algorithms at counting meteors, and anyone can join.
🗓️ June 2026
🔗 https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zooniverse/radio-meteor-zoo
#CitizenScience #RadioAstronomy #Bolidozor #Space

📡 Europe's LOFAR radio telescope monitored pulsar PSR J0814+7429 for over 10 years, revealing annual variations in its scintillation — the "twinkling" of its radio signal as it crosses interstellar gas. This sharpens ultra-precise pulsar timing. Open access in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
(28 May 2026)
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/06/aa57812-25/aa57812-25.html
#RadioAstronomy #Astronomy #Science

🌠 The June Bootids meteor shower peaks on the night of 27 Jun 2026. Spawned by comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, it's famous for unpredictable outbursts (sometimes >100 meteors/h). The IMO and AMS networks collect amateur visual and radio reports – a perfect target for citizen science and radio meteor monitoring.
Source (AMS, 20 Jun 2026): https://www.amsmeteors.org/2026/06/meteor-activity-outlook-for-june-20-26-2026/
#Bolidozor #CitizenScience #RadioAstronomy

☀️📡 Citizen science delivers: volunteers on the Solar Radio Burst Tracker (Zooniverse) combed 4+ years of ESA Solar Orbiter data to build a catalogue of 15,934 interplanetary Type III radio bursts. Openly available via the MASER service (Paris Observatory). Published in A&A. (May 2026)

#CitizenScience #RadioAstronomy #ESA
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/05/aa59339-26/aa59339-26.html

🕳️✨ Erstes enges Paar extrem massereicher Schwarzer Löcher entdeckt 📡

Ein internationales Forschungsteam, an dem das Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie beteiligt war, hat im Zentrum der Galaxie Markarian 501 etwas Außergewöhnliches gefunden: Es gibt Hinweise auf zwei supermassereiche Schwarze Löcher, die sich in einem extrem engen Orbit umeinander bewegen.

Beobachtungen über viele Jahre hinweg zeigen nicht nur einen, sondern gleich zwei Teilchenstrahlen (Jets), was ein starkes Indiz dafür ist, dass es sich um zwei „kosmische Giganten“ im letzten Stadium vor einer Verschmelzung handeln könnte.

Die beiden Schwarzen Löcher umrunden sich offenbar in nur rund 100 Tagen und könnten - kosmisch gesehen - schon in naher Zukunft miteinander verschmelzen. Dies ermöglicht einen seltenen Einblick in eine Phase, die bislang nur theoretisch vermutet wurde.🌌

👉 https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pressemeldungen/2026/erstes-enges-paar-extrem-massereicher-schwarzer-loecher-detektiert?c=8727

#aktuelleforschung #radioastronomie #SchwarzesLoch #BlackHole #radioastronomy

🚨 Exciting New Science🚨

Could astronomers have finally found the key to solving one of the Universe's strangest mysteries?

In recent years, the emergence of a new class of objects known as Long-Period Transients (LPTs) has baffled radio astronomers. These bizarre objects emit powerful radio pulses every few minutes to hours - but their behaviour shouldn't really be possible according to our current understanding of how other objects, like pulsars, emit radio waves.

Now, a newly discovered white dwarf binary system may be providing the strongest clue yet. Some researchers are even describing it as a potential "Rosetta Stone" for understanding these mysterious objects.

I had a chat with PhD candidate Kovi Rose from the University of Sydney about this discovery, what makes this system so unusual, and how it could help unravel the mystery of LPTs.

Check out my latest feature article on #SpaceAustralia here: https://www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/new-long-period-transient-reveals-its-secrets

📸 Animation: C. Knox & J.P. Pritchard

#RadioAstronomy #astrodon #astrophysics #LongPeriodTransients

📡 The MeerKAT radio telescope has discovered 15 new millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, as part of the TRAPUM project. Spin periods range 1.88–13.03 ms; 12 are binary systems, including a 'black widow' pulsar. Results published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
🗓️ 7 May 2026
🔗 https://phys.org/news/2026-05-meerkat-millisecond-pulsars-globular-cluster.html
#RadioAstronomy #Astronomy #Space