NERT: Radio Observations of Cygnus A.

Abstract

The North Georgia Educational Radio Telescope (NERT) is a radio telescope consisting of an 8 foot diameter dish with a feed horn, low noise preamp, down converter and detector which can also function as a radio spectrograph. This system is designed to detect a radio-band centered on the 21 cm radio emission line of interstellar atomic hydrogen. Past extraterrestrial detections consist of both the first and second brightest radio sources in the sky, the Sun and supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. We present the results from radio observations of the 3rd brightest radio source in the sky, the radio galaxy Cygnus A. The observations consist of a series of transit scans varying from 28° N to 52° N declination, encompassing the region surrounding Cygnus A. The radio intensity data from the individual transit scans were combined to produce a radio image of the sky centered on Cygnus A with a field of view of approximately 25 by 50 degrees. Faculty Adviser: Joseph Jones