July 3-10, 2009: The False Comet, open cluster M23, and globular cluster M69

In each episode, Michael highlights:

• One object you can see without any optical aid
• One object you can see with a small (4-inch) telescope
• One object you can see with at least an 8-inch telescope

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Listen to this week's podcast.

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Square Kilometer Array pathfinder projects

At a recent conference in Groningen, The Netherlands, four instruments stood out as pathfinders for the future Square Kilometer Array (SKA). The SKA will be such an enormous undertaking — financially, politically, technically, and scientifically — that there are several smaller projects under way to learn how to do it. The SKA will be as expensive as the Hubble Space Telescope but much more complex technically.

Pathfinder projects explore the how’s and what’s of building a large telescope in the two sites under consideration for the SKA: the MeerKAT in South Africa’s Karoo Desert and the ASKAP in Western Australia. Meanwhile in the Northern Hemisphere, two other precursors are under way: the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico and the Westerbork Radio Telescope in The Netherlands.

Both telescopes are being upgraded with the new type of instruments we expect to use on SKA. The VLA is getting more dishes and better receivers and will be known as the Extended VLA (EVLA). The Westerbork telescope will get APERture Tile In Focus (APERTIF), a type of radio-camera that can take pictures of large parts of the sky.

Scientifically, this progress is very exciting. These pathfinders play a crucial role in working out what science to exactly go for with SKA (and thus optimize its design for).

The MeerKAT and EVLA will be good for detailed observations. These telescopes are to be pointed at things of interest. ASKAP and APERTIF will survey the entire sky for the radio emission of hydrogen gas, the building material of stars and galaxies.

We can then look at what they find in high-resolution detail with the EVLA in the North and MeerKAT in the South. All these machines will be coming online in 2013-14.

Interesting times indeed.

Previous updates:

• Pouring concrete for the Karoo Array Telescope
• Big radio telescope science
• What science could MeerKAT do?
• Benne Holwerda wants to build the biggest radio telescope in history

A great scope in a great location

In June, Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher and I visited developer Gene Turner’s Rancho Hidalgo in Animas, New Mexico. On Saturday, June 20, the three of us, plus eight more guests, visited an observatory that stands at 6,500 feet (1,980 meters) elevation on a mountain Turner owns.

Outside the facility, we observed the Sun through a high-quality Hydrogen-alpha filter belonging to Turner.

Once inside the facility, he gave us a brief description of the 24-inch Ritchey-Chrétien reflecting telescope. We took a video of his impromptu presentation, during which he also shared some future plans for the scope.

Watch the video here.

Related

• Image gallery: Rancho Hidalgo
• Editor blog: Roaming through summer’s deep-sky objects at Rancho Hidalgo
• Editor blog: Deep-sky observing with Rancho Hidalgo’s 30-inch reflector

Pouring concrete for the Karoo Array Telescope

Engineers on the Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT) project are constructing a seven-dish prototype, KAT-7. These first seven dishes will help the engineers learn how to build dishes that do not cause interference in observations, connect them up, point them all, and build the software.

This latest development is an exciting new phase in the MeerKAT project. No matter how nice the technical drawings look, it is awesome to see foundations poured and dishes going up.

The support site, the operations building and residences for the technicians and astronomers are finished. These facilities are for KAT-7, the later MeerKAT, and hopefully Square Kilometer Array in the more distant future.

The dish assembly shed is the latest structure to be finished. “Shed” is a misnomer for a building with a clean industrial work floor, air conditioning, and generous space for dish construction. The structure houses the dish mold in which the composite dishes will be poured.

These composite dishes are a unique feature of the KAT-7 and MeerKAT. Most other radio telescopes are metal grids with chicken wire. The composite dish is lighter and more durable.

Benne sent several updates, so stay tuned for more soon!

Previous posts

• Big radio telescope science
• What science could MeerKAT do?
• Benne Holwerda wants to build the biggest radio telescope in history

Astronomy contributing editor talks outreach with local newspaper

The Sun, a Jacksonville, Florida, newspaper, recently interviewed Mike Reynolds about his life in astronomy. Reynolds is the dean of liberal arts and sciences at Florida Community College at the Jacksonville Kent Campus and won an AstronomyOutreach 2009 AstroOscar for spreading awareness of astronomy education. He is a contributing editor for Astronomy magazine.

Read the Q&A, "Astronomy expert Mike Reynolds."

Congrats, Mike!

Recent equipment reviews by Reynolds include:

• Orion EON 80mm ED Apochromatic Refractor Telescope (June 2009)
• DayStar's Quantum filter reveals the Sun (March 2009)
• Easy imaging with the DSI III (September 2008)