NAIC NRAO

Seventh NAIC/NRAO Single-Dish Summer School

Arecibo Observatory
July 10 – 17, 2013

SDSS7 Program

SDSS7 Program

Wednesday, July 10
1400 - 1800 Conference Registration
1800 onwards Reception/Dinner by pool
Thursday, July 11
0800 - 0900 Breakfast & Conference Registration (Contd.)
0900 - 0915 Welcome to Arecibo & An Overview of the Gordon 305-m Telescope - R. Kerr/F. Camilo
0915 - 0930 School Practicalities - TBD
0930 - 1030 Science Highlights from the Arecibo & Green Bank Telescopes - C. Salter & J. Lockman
1030 - 1100 Coffee Break
1100 - 1200 An Introduction to Radio Astronomy Essentials - J. Condon
1200 - 1300 Lunch
1300 - 1400 Fundamentals of Single-Dish Radio Astronomy, Part I - S. Ransom (Radiation Fundamentals)
1400 - 1500 Fundamentals of Single-Dish Radio Astronomy, Part II - J. Condon (Antennas and Radiometers from a single-dish perspective, Including an overall description of the basic concepts of radio astronomy)
1500 - 1530 Coffee Break
1530 - 1630 Tracing the Signal down the Telescope - R. Maddalena
1630 - 1730 The Hands-On Projects - Organization and Logistics
1730 - 1900 Dinner with Hands-on teams planning strategy
1900 - 2100 After dinner discussions and free time
1900 - 0000 Hands-On Observing - GBT
Friday, July 12
0800 - 0900 Breakfast
0900 - 1000 Spectral lines - R. Minchin (Includes atomic/molecular lines, recombination lines, radiative transfer, and celestial line sources)
1000 - 1030 Coffee Break
1030 - 1230 Observatory tours, and panel discussion in four or five groups (Tours of telescope structure, control room, electronics lab., lidar lab., plus science and observing panel discussion)
1230 - 1330 Lunch
1330 - 1430 Observatory tours, and panel discussion (continued)(Tours of telescope structure, control room, electronics lab., lidar lab., plus science and observing panel discussion)
1430 - 1500 Coffee Break
1500 - 1600 Continuum Observing - B. Mason (An overview of thermal and non-thermal emission, observing issues, e.g. confusion, gain fluctuations, etc.)
1600 - 1700 Pulsars - S. Ransom/F. Camilo (Pulsar properties, searching and timing pulsars, NanoGRAV, etc.)
1700 - 1715 Short GBT Science Talk - A. Kepley
1730 - 1900 Dinner
1900 - 2100 After dinner discussions and free time
1900 - 0000 Hands-On Observing - GBT & Arecibo
Saturday, July 13
0730 - 0830 Breakfast
0830 - 0930 Calibration and Data Reduction Techniques from cm through mm Wavelengths - K. O'Neil (Basic techniques, including position switching, frequency switching, finding your “off” in a map)
0930 - 1030 The Atmosphere, including Weather - R. Maddalena (Including atmospheric effects on observations, ionospheric effects, refraction, opacity, wind-induced pointing errors, frequency-dependence of absorption, and anomalous refraction)
1030 - 1100 Coffee Break
1100 - 1130 RFI Demo - T. Minter
1130 - 1200 Frequency Management - K. O'Neil (Spectrum allocation, radio quiet and coordination zones)
1200 - 1330 Lunch
1330 - 1430 Receivers: Types and Uses - D. Whitlow/D. Urbain (An overview of receiver types - single feeds, traditional arrays, phased arrays, and bolometers)
1430 - 1530 Backends & Signal Processing Basics - L. Quintero
1530 - 1600 Coffee Break
1600 - 1700 Polarization - C. Heiles, University of California, Berkeley (Includes linear & circular polarization, Zeeman Splitting, Mueller Matrices)
1700 - 1715 Short GBT Science Talk - A. Ford
1730 - 1900 Dinner
1900 - 1930 IDL Q&A sessions for beginners
1930 - 2100 After dinner discussions and free time
1900 - 0000 Hands-On Observing - GBT & Arecibo
Sunday, July 14
0730 - 0830 Breakfast
0830 - 0930 Observing Extended Sources - J. Lockman (Includes stray radiation)
0930 - 1030 Planetary Radar - M. Nolan
1030 - 1100 Coffee Break
1100 - 1200 Short Spacing Corrections from a Single-Dish Perspective - M. Johnson/A. Kepley (Combining synthesis and single dish data)
1200 - 1230 Star Formation and Single-Dish Telescopes: What Can We Learn? - D. Frayer
1230 - 1330 Lunch
1330 - 1730 Hands-On Projects - Data reduction
1730 - 1900 Dinner
1900 - 2100 After dinner discussions and free time
1900 - 0000 Hands-On Observing - Arecibo
Monday, July 15
0730 - 0830 Breakfast
0830 - 0930 Phased Array Feeds - J. Ford
0930 - 1000 Radio Telescopes from the Software Perspective - P. Atreya/P. Marganian
1000 - 1030 Coffee break
1030 - 1115 Observing Techniques with Coherent Detector Arrays - R. Minchin
1115 - 1145 Observing Techniques with Bolometer Arrays- B. Mason
1145 - 1300 Lunch
1300 - 1530 Hands-On Projects - Data Reduction
1530 - 1630 Coffee break, featuring discussions with the experts (hardware, software engineer and an astronomer in each of five groups)
1630 - 1700 Writing Effective Telescope Proposals - C. Salter (Using Arecibo as the example)
1700 - 1715 GBT Proposal Specifics - T. Minter
1715 - 1730 Short GBT Science Talk - M. Johnson
1730 - 1900 Dinner
1900 - 2100 After dinner discussions and free time
Tuesday, July 16
0730 - 0830 Breakfast
0830 - 0930 The ALFA Surveys - Members of the Arecibo Staff
0930 - 1030 Single Dish Telescopes Now and Into the Future - K. O'Neil
1030 - 1100 Coffee break
1100 - 1230 Hands-On Projects - Data Reduction
1230 - 1330 Lunch
1330 - 1500 Hands-on Projects - Presentation Preparation
1500 - 1530 Hands-on Projects - Presentation Preparation/Load Talks
1530 - 1600 Coffee Break
1600 - 1730 Hands-on Projects Presentations (5-min talks)
1730 - 1800 Closing Thoughts - The Future of Radio Astronomy - F. Camilo
1800 - 2130 Barbecue/banquet with guest speaker - Y. Kovalev (?) - and awarding of certificates.
Wednesday, July 17
0730 - 0830 Breakfast
0900 onwards Local activity and Participants Depart

Home Register Program Travel Form Fee Payment Form Flyer Accommodation NRAO Green Bank Arecibo Observatory