Table of Contents

• Research in Radio Astronomy
• Research in Solar Physics
• Research in Optical Astronomy
• Outreach Programs in Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Grants and Scholarships
• NASA Internships
• Radio Astronomy Observatories

Research in Radio Astronomy

• Tracking system hardware and software development and operation.
• Microwave resonator design, electromagnetic simulation, construction and testing.
• Cryogenic ultra-low noise amplifier design and testing.
• Development and testing of the low noise block, which includes filters, a stage amplifier, a local oscillator and a down-converting mixer.
• Data acquisition and analysis software development using Marina and two spectrum analyzers with GPIB interfaces.
• Development of a digital signal processing (DSP) instrument using ultra-fast analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA).
• Determination of the velocities and velocity distributions of atomic hydrogen clouds in the Milky Way galaxy using analysis of Doppler-broadened and shifted spectral profiles of the F=1->0 (1.4 GHz) transition in atomic H.
• Hydrogen cloud velocity distributions in nearby galaxies.
• Study of molecular OH clouds in the Milky Way at 1.6 GHz.
• Observation of pulsars and determination of variations in the pulse rate.

Research in Solar Physics

• Imaging of the coronasphere of the sun at 1.4 GHz can be performed with the radio telescope hardware and a program designed to construct an image.
• The PicoSatellite Program ground station has Yagi-Uda antennas that can be used to image the sun at 150 and 440 MHz. Development of a tracking and imaging program for this specific hardware is needed.
• Design and construction of high-gain helical antennas and receivers at 2.4, 5 and 10 GHz will enable more detailed information from the sun.
• Correlation of RF observations with many other sources of information from satellites and ground instruments will contribute to the effort to understand solar and solar wind dynamics.
• For optical observations of the surface of the sun, a digital micro-mirror array (DMA) can also be used as a filter of spatial frequency components of an image. Spatial frequency components of the visible light emission from the surface of the sun can be scanned at the rate of 13 kHz. The goal is to search for large scale spatial correlations in the surface emission.

Research in Optical Astronomy

• A digital micro-mirror array (DMA) can be used in the primary focal plane of a telescope to eliminate bright objects. Thus, long exposures can be taken of weakly emitting objects. Mechanical and optical interfacing of the DMA to Cassegrain telescopes is ongoing activity.
• An advanced program to communicate with the DMA through the FPGA interface is needed.
• Studies of dim companions of a bright star in a binary system can be performed using the DMA and a ultra-low noise CCD camera.
• A circumstellar disc is the swirling mass of dust and gas in which planets form. Such discs are primary targets for research.
• Optically dim galaxies and the outer regions of bright galaxies can be studied by eliminating bright foreground stars.
• The Pine Mountain Observatory, operated by the U of O, can provide observing time.

Outreach Programs in Astronomy and Astrophysics

• Real-time web pages for radio astronomy activities and solar observations will be developed for the OSU community and for schools and museums throughout Oregon.
• Society of Physics Students and the OSU Space Society organize outreach activities on campus and within the Willamette Valley.
• Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville will be a major collaborator for this effort.

Grants and Scholarships

• The Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium awards grants and scholarships to students throughout Oregon. Some recent recipients are:
  • Shaun Kibby, Jeff Holmes and Kris Paul for the radio telescope project.
  • Teal Pershing for the spatial frequency analysis of visible emission from the solar surface.
  • Evan Marshall for the PicoSatellite Project.

NASA Internships

• Summer internships abound at NASA facilities.
• Recent student interns:
  • Kris Paul at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA, Summer 2010 : Data mining the galactic red-shift database.
  • Chris Holmes-Parker at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA, Summer 2010 : Artificial intelligence in satellite arrays.
  • Mason Keck at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,MD, Summer 2011: X-ray astrophysics and the analysis of a new x-ray telescope design.

Radio Astronomy Observatories

• The National Radio Astronomy Observatory has numerous opportunities for students.
• The Arecibo Observatory part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) , has research opportunities for students. The Arecibo radio telescope is the largest single collector, being 305 m (1000 feet) in diameter and 167 feet deep.