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Low Frequency Observations of the Moon with the Murchison Widefield Array

Authors :
J. S. B. Wyithe
David L. Kaplan
A. R. Whitney
E. Kratzenberg
Divya Oberoi
Jacqueline N. Hewitt
David G. Barnes
John D. Bunton
Christina L. Williams
Mark Waterson
Miguel F. Morales
Roger J. Cappallo
N. Udaya Shankar
Stephen M. Ord
W. Arcus
Randall B. Wayth
Edward H. Morgan
Joseph Pathikulangara
Bryan Gaensler
R. Koenig
Ronald A. Remillard
Justin C. Kasper
Benjamin McKinley
Ludi deSouza
J. E. Salah
B. E. Corey
Robert J. Sault
Jamie Stevens
Bryna J. Hazelton
Ravi Subrahmanyan
Lincoln J. Greenhill
Gianni Bernardi
Alan E. E. Rogers
Mervyn J. Lynch
A. Roshi
T. Prabu
David Herne
Daniel A. Mitchell
K. S. Srivani
Rachel L. Webster
Judd D. Bowman
R. Goeke
Andrew Williams
Steven Tingay
Avinash A. Deshpande
B. B. Kincaid
David Emrich
Colin J. Lonsdale
Melanie Johnston-Hollitt
A. de Oliveira-Costa
Frank H. Briggs
S. R. McWhirter
Haystack Observatory
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Cappallo, Roger J.
Corey, Brian E.
Goeke, Robert F.
Hewitt, Jacqueline N.
Kincaid, Barton B.
Kratzenberg, Eric W.
Lonsdale, Colin John
McWhirter, Stephen R.
Morgan, Edward H.
Remillard, Ronald Alan
Rogers, Alan E. E.
Salah, J. E.
Whitney, Alan R.
Williams, Christopher Leigh
Source :
arXiv
Publication Year :
2012
Publisher :
arXiv, 2012.

Abstract

A new generation of low-frequency radio telescopes is seeking to observe the redshifted 21 cm signal from the epoch of reionization (EoR), requiring innovative methods of calibration and imaging to overcome the difficulties of wide-field low-frequency radio interferometry. Precise calibration will be required to separate the expected small EoR signal from the strong foreground emission at the frequencies of interest between 80 and 300 MHz. The Moon may be useful as a calibration source for detection of the EoR signature, as it should have a smooth and predictable thermal spectrum across the frequency band of interest. Initial observations of the Moon with the Murchison Widefield Array 32 tile prototype show that the Moon does exhibit a similar trend to that expected for a cool thermally emitting body in the observed frequency range, but that the spectrum is corrupted by reflected radio emission from Earth. In particular, there is an abrupt increase in the observed flux density of the Moon within the internationally recognized frequency modulated (FM) radio band. The observations have implications for future low-frequency surveys and EoR detection experiments that will need to take this reflected emission from the Moon into account. The results also allow us to estimate the equivalent isotropic power emitted by the Earth in the FM band and to determine how bright the Earth might appear at meter wavelengths to an observer beyond our own solar system.<br />National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant AST-0457585)<br />National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant AST-0908884)<br />National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY-0835713)<br />United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-0510247)<br />Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory<br />MIT School of Science

Details

ISSN :
95500510
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
arXiv
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....934039faf381f3efe826d8861ce7eebe
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1211.1433