X2.3 flare at 10 GHz

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Arto Oksanen

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May 14, 2013, 2:43:42 AM5/14/13
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Here is the total power plot at 10 GHz from Hankasalmi observatory of the second X-class solar flare of yesterday:

http://murtoinen.dyndns.org:8889/sun/sun_20130513_15UT_avg10Hz.png

arto

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Arto Oksanen
arto.o...@jklsirius.fi
Muurame, Finland

"In a world where I feel so small, I can't stop thinking big."

Paul Oxley

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May 14, 2013, 9:55:05 AM5/14/13
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Arto
 
Nice catch. I is similar to a flare that I observed at 12 GHz a few years ago.
 
Paul

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Marcus Fisher

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May 14, 2013, 3:45:49 PM5/14/13
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Quite interesting!  if you could entertain a few questions from someone just getting introduced (I have just started the SID monitoring).

1) If my basic googling/reading is right you are measuring signal strength at the 10GHz (other gent at the 12 Ghz) and then computing the solar flux in your graph, do i understand that right?
2) I have seen that the direct TV dishes may be used for this type of observation (microwave thermal radiation), is that similar to what you are doing?  I ask because when I read about these home DIY telescopes using the dish satelites from direct TV then one of the biggest challenges is pointing it and keeping it pointed at the Sun.  Do you find that difficult?
3) do you see the same types of flux increases with other flares (C, M) or when monitoring 10-12Ghz you tend to see the spike when X classes occur?

sorry to bombard you :-) just liked the image and the data
--Marcus

Jean Marie Polard

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May 14, 2013, 4:58:18 PM5/14/13
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Hi all, I a new on your list and would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself in two words. Maybe some of you know me as ON4EU. Now I moved in France (IN88IN) and I am radioactive under the call F5VLB. My name is Jean Marie (John for the OM's).

I used to do radioastronomy with a 1.8m dish, a LNB for 4 and one for 10 GHz, and a satfinder modified to pick up the signal to send to my PC. I was able to measure the moon T°, to detect solar flares, to detect some R.S. and the milky way. One author described my really cheap and efficient stn in a book. EA4EOZ was sharing my experiences and his internet site has some useful information about our tests. He was the brain, I was the tester.

Due to familial circumstances I stopped for some years and now I am rebuilding my station.

So from time to time I will answer to your mails. Don't hesitate to ask questions, if I can answer I will be glad to do so.

Best regards to you all and happy to be here again

John

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Meilleures

Jean Marie POLARD

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Arto Oksanen

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May 15, 2013, 4:09:52 AM5/15/13
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Hello Marcus!

1) yes, we have a 3 m dish with a standard satellite TV LNA in the primary focus. The signal is digitized by a simple self-made diode receiver with eight channel 10 bit ADC. Then the samples (100 per second after some averaging) are sent over serial line to the computer in the control room.

2) pretty much except we have larger dish on a robotic alt-az mount. The telescope is a Russian (or U.S.S.R.) made weather radar with new electronics made in Finland. It is a VERY heavy duty "military" equipment. The telescope is controlled by a linux computer running self made Python script. It is using a TPoint model to correct pointing errors and has about one arc minute ponting. Solar tracking is fully automated, the telescope slews to the Sun in the morning as soon it is 10 degrees above the horizon and tracks it to the evening to the same elevation. For calibration there is measurement of dark sky before and after the solar observation. Yes, it was lots of work to get the mount working well.

3) With this system we see all M- and X-class flares and some of the C-class too. The intensity in radio is not always comparable to the X-ray flux, sometimes the radio signal is larger sometimes smaller, but always at the same time.

Here are some other plots of smaller flares:

2013-05-02: M1.1 flare at 5:05 UT
It possible to browse all daily plots here:
http://murtoinen.dyndns.org:8889/jsDatePick/sun-plots.html

The realtime plot (updates every 5 minutes):
http://murtoinen.dyndns.org:8889/sun/sun.png

arto

 


2013/5/14 Marcus Fisher <marcus....@gmail.com>
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Marcus Fisher

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May 21, 2013, 1:00:56 AM5/21/13
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you all have one killer setup!!!  is this your hobby or job because I have to say that if that is not a job location then that is one of the best places I have ever seen to be a hobby! Thanks for the images.  please tell me that you have an image with the letters "U.S.S.R." on at least one piece of hardware, that would top it all off.   

Thanks for the link to the real time plot, is the jump/switch in data at 03:00:00 UT the dish slewing to the sun (basically Sun rise in your area)?  I'll have to google what the relation of the temperatures are to the signals you are collecting, meaning how do use that info (but I won't take your time in teaching me 101, I thought I read somewhere that temp gives you insight into ......)

one more (sorry) ... is Sun tracking based on sensor data or standard calculations of where the Sun should be and when?  if sensor data I was wondering how slewing was handled (automatically) and how you handled stress on the system (if any).

from a quick look the skies look quiet .... enjoy and I am quite envious, nice job with your set up.


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Arto Oksanen

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May 21, 2013, 4:00:42 AM5/21/13
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Hi Marcus!

Thanks! First, this is just a hobby, I am an amateur astronomer. The radio telescope is operated by our astronomy club. I am more of a CCD observer (we have a fully robotic 40 cm optical telescope at the site too), but I am involved with the radio telescope as well. I have done all the software (telescope control system and radio data logging and web interface) while others are working with the radio and telescope hardware and electronics.

Heh, I have seen the USSR letters on many (original) parts, but I dont remeber if there are any pictures online. Lets find one!

Yes, the jump around 03 UTC is when Sun is reaching the elevation of 10 degerees and telescope slews to observe it. When the Sun is between 5 and 10 degrees the telescope points to the cold sky for calibration. I am planning to add also a geosync satellite pointing for better flux calibration. The problem is to choose the right satellite with constant signal level.

The temperature measurements are for correcting the signal levels. Both the LNA and receiver diode have some sensitivity/gain dependancy from the temperature. The receiver is much better insulated but the LNA follows pretty much the ambient temperature as can be seen on the plots. 

The Sun pointing and tracking is based to calculated position. We are using PyEphem (http://rhodesmill.org/pyephem/) for calculating the horizontal coordinates of the Sun. The coordinates are converted to steps that drive the telescope axis (there is a pulse controlled industrial servo controller at the both axis of the telescope). The telescope pointing has been modelled by several pointing runs that  followed the Sun all day by finding the maximum radio signal levels. This gives mapping between the mechanical pointing and the true sky position. These value pairs have been fed to TPoint software (http://www.tpsoft.demon.co.uk/)  that computed a pointing model that is programmed into the telescope control code. This gives very good absolute pointing.  

arto

2013/5/21 Marcus Fisher <marcus....@gmail.com>
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