Isabel Miller - Essay - Mineral County
Item
Title
Isabel Miller - Essay - Mineral County
Description
Let's Learn About Radio Waves!
Abstract
If you were asked what radio waves were, what would you say? Would you know how they travel, how they are received and interpreted, or why they are so important to our understanding of our universe? Well, my hope is that after reading this, you’ll be confident in answering all of these questions. Last summer, I traveled to the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) in Green Bank, West Virginia to study exactly this. I worked with a group of four other girls my age to investigate radio waves in our solar system using the 40-foot
radio
telescope available to students at the GBO. For two weeks, we woke up in the middle of the night many nights to get observations of planets and the moon, which have very limited viewing hours
, and spent many hours of every day compiling and interpreting our data.
The solar system objects we observed were the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn.
We would calibrate the telescope to the correct Right Ascension and Declamation (space latitude and longitude). Then we turned on and calibrated the chart recorder, which shows us the radiation level of what the telescope is pointing at in Janskies (
a
unit used only in astronomy named after a great astrologist). The chart recorder has a red line and a black line. The red line tracks the Janskies while the black line is the constant. The chart recorder was fed graph paper made specifically for this use and has units of Janskies on the side to make it easier to calculate the intensity of the objects. This calculation showed us that the sun has the highest intensity, meaning that it gives off the greatest amount of radio waves, while the small rocky planets like Mars had very small intensities and give off a smaller amount of radio waves.
So, what are radio waves? Radio waves are the radiation that comes from the electromagnetic field of an object, meaning that the moon, that has no electromagnetic field, does not give of any radio waves. The sun, as you might know, has an enormous electromagnetic field which is what makes its radiation level so immense. This also tells us that gas giants, like Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn, have high intensities of around 3.1 Janskies, which is large but very small compared to the Sun’s 41,625 Janskies. Next, how do radio waves travel? Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic wave, which are waves that are unlike sound waves in the way that they can travel through liquid, gasses, and
solids. This is due to the fact that they do not need molecules to travel and can act as their own vessel and propel themselves through space.
How do we receive and interpret radio waves? To receive radio waves we use radio telescopes. These can be huge like the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT for short) at the GBO or they can be small like the Direct TV dishes you see o
n
roofs. The way these work is that there are two receivers. The front end of the receiver is on the actual telescope. When you look at these kinds of telescopes you will see an arm that has a large box-type thing on it that looks down on the dish of the telescope. This is the front end of the receiver
. W
hen radio waves hit the dish of a radio telescope they reflect off of the round surface and hit the front end of the receiver. This receiver then translates the radiation into an electrical signal which is transferred to the back end of the receiver. This is in the control room, which is usually a small building relatively close to the telescope. The backend of the receiver is connected to a chart recorder and records the data for astronomers to inter
pret. So, how do astronomers go about interpreting the data
?
First, they determine the intensity of the object. If this object is an unknown object that was not meant to be
detected, they will further investigate to find the source of the interference. This could be signals coming from phones, cars, and any other thing like this, or something in space floating around, like an asteroid, a satellite, or a dwarf planet or moon.
So, what’s the big deal with radio waves? Why are they important to us? Well, radio astronomy is a vital part in the discovery of many new space objects, including the black hole that has been discovered in the center of our galaxy. This discovery gave us new information about what will come to be with our world in the far future. Radio astronomy can also be used to measure the pull and intensity of objects like meteors that could potentially harm earth, and help astronomers to determine whether or not they are a threat to our world. Most importantly though, radio waves and the
interpretation of them give us a better understanding of the universe, galaxy, and solar system we live in, and can give us a more thorough understanding of how our universe came to be and what will happen to it in the future.
Through reading this, I hope I was able to teach you about radio waves and why we study and need them.
radio
telescope available to students at the GBO. For two weeks, we woke up in the middle of the night many nights to get observations of planets and the moon, which have very limited viewing hours
, and spent many hours of every day compiling and interpreting our data.
The solar system objects we observed were the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn.
We would calibrate the telescope to the correct Right Ascension and Declamation (space latitude and longitude). Then we turned on and calibrated the chart recorder, which shows us the radiation level of what the telescope is pointing at in Janskies (
a
unit used only in astronomy named after a great astrologist). The chart recorder has a red line and a black line. The red line tracks the Janskies while the black line is the constant. The chart recorder was fed graph paper made specifically for this use and has units of Janskies on the side to make it easier to calculate the intensity of the objects. This calculation showed us that the sun has the highest intensity, meaning that it gives off the greatest amount of radio waves, while the small rocky planets like Mars had very small intensities and give off a smaller amount of radio waves.
So, what are radio waves? Radio waves are the radiation that comes from the electromagnetic field of an object, meaning that the moon, that has no electromagnetic field, does not give of any radio waves. The sun, as you might know, has an enormous electromagnetic field which is what makes its radiation level so immense. This also tells us that gas giants, like Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn, have high intensities of around 3.1 Janskies, which is large but very small compared to the Sun’s 41,625 Janskies. Next, how do radio waves travel? Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic wave, which are waves that are unlike sound waves in the way that they can travel through liquid, gasses, and
solids. This is due to the fact that they do not need molecules to travel and can act as their own vessel and propel themselves through space.
How do we receive and interpret radio waves? To receive radio waves we use radio telescopes. These can be huge like the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT for short) at the GBO or they can be small like the Direct TV dishes you see o
n
roofs. The way these work is that there are two receivers. The front end of the receiver is on the actual telescope. When you look at these kinds of telescopes you will see an arm that has a large box-type thing on it that looks down on the dish of the telescope. This is the front end of the receiver
. W
hen radio waves hit the dish of a radio telescope they reflect off of the round surface and hit the front end of the receiver. This receiver then translates the radiation into an electrical signal which is transferred to the back end of the receiver. This is in the control room, which is usually a small building relatively close to the telescope. The backend of the receiver is connected to a chart recorder and records the data for astronomers to inter
pret. So, how do astronomers go about interpreting the data
?
First, they determine the intensity of the object. If this object is an unknown object that was not meant to be
detected, they will further investigate to find the source of the interference. This could be signals coming from phones, cars, and any other thing like this, or something in space floating around, like an asteroid, a satellite, or a dwarf planet or moon.
So, what’s the big deal with radio waves? Why are they important to us? Well, radio astronomy is a vital part in the discovery of many new space objects, including the black hole that has been discovered in the center of our galaxy. This discovery gave us new information about what will come to be with our world in the far future. Radio astronomy can also be used to measure the pull and intensity of objects like meteors that could potentially harm earth, and help astronomers to determine whether or not they are a threat to our world. Most importantly though, radio waves and the
interpretation of them give us a better understanding of the universe, galaxy, and solar system we live in, and can give us a more thorough understanding of how our universe came to be and what will happen to it in the future.
Through reading this, I hope I was able to teach you about radio waves and why we study and need them.
Youth(s) First Name and Initial of Last Name
Isabel Miller
Age Division
14
Category
Essay
County
Mineral
