Includes both theory and techniques, providing a comprehensive 'one-stop' introduction to the field, allowing a smooth transition to more advanced research level material
Radio astronomy is an active and rapidly expanding field due to advances in computing techniques, with several important new instruments on the horizon. This text provides a thorough introduction to radio astronomy and its contribution to our understanding of the universe, bridging the gap between basic introductions and research-level treatments. It begins by covering the fundamentals physics of radio techniques, before moving on to single-dish telescopes and aperture synthesis arrays.
Fully updated and extensively rewritten, the fourth edition places greater emphasis on techniques, with detailed discussion of interferometry in particular, and comprehensive coverage of digital techniques in the appendices.
The science sections are fully revised, with new author Peter N. Wilkinson bringing added expertise to the sections on pulsars, quasars and active galaxies. Spanning the entirety of radio astronomy, this is an engaging introduction for students and researchers approaching radio astronomy for the first time.
Table of Contents:
- 1. The role of radio observations in astronomy
- 2. Emission and general properties of radio waves
- 3. Spectral lines
- 4. Radio wave propagation
- 5. The nature of the received radio signal
- 6. Radiometers
- 7. Spectrometers and polarimeters
- 8. Single-aperture radio telescopes
- 9. The basics of interferometry
- 10. Aperture synthesis
- 11. Further interferometric techniques
- 12. The Sun and the planets
- 13. Stars and nebulae
- 14. The Milky Way galaxy
- 15. Pulsars
- 16. Active galaxies
- 17. The radio contributions to cosmology
The author Peter N. Wilkinson is Emeritus Professor of Radio Astronomy at the University of Manchester. He has been involved in the development of radio telescopes at Jodrell Bank Observatory since 1967, including five years spent at a combination of the California Institute of Technology and the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
