SOLUTIONS PROBLEM SET 1

Problem 1.

Spherical astronomy

The following exercises intend to warm you up about the location (both relative and absolute) of
celestial objects to your position. This will be especially important when planning observations (and
probably in the exam). (hint: Identify your Zenith, the Celestial Equator, the cardinal points and the
definitions of the coordinates).

a) One of your friends told you in Vappu that he had seen during day time the star Schedar (α
Cassiopeia, declination +56° 32ʹ 14.392ʺ) in Helsinki (Latitude: 60°10ʹ10ʺ N) from the bottom of
a deep lake. Could be this true from a geometric analysis? (As we know, in general we cannot
see stars during the day from the bottom of a lake, even the radio telescopes do not behave
that well under the water). Feel free to use the provided graphic to do your analysis. 2p

Ans. By using a celestial sphere representation we can find the position of the celestial equator; it is
located f degrees from our Zenith. Having the C.E. located, now we can find the celestial north
pole (CNP), and the coordinates of the observer (N, S, W, E). Now, even without knowing the r.a.
of Schedar, we can measure the d of the star from the lowest point of the celestial plane (limit case
in the graphic). It is clear that, in this particular case, the star never hides from us, our friend had
indeed a great knowledge in astronomy and was trying to make fun of us! Fortunately, some
knowledge about spherical trigonometry and celestial coordinates was enough to discover the joke.
b) An observer is located exactly in the tropic of Cancer. Your challenge is to determine the
shadow length produced by a tree which length is l, that is completely vertical to the ground
during the exact moment of the equinox. 2p

Ans. During the equinox the Sun culminates with an angle of 23°26′13.6″ (23.43712°) to the
observer zenith located in the tropic of cancer. We can say with great, really great, approximation
that the sun will culminate with the same angle for all the observers in the world located in the
tropic of cancer. Also remember that the culmination of the sun is not at noon! =)

l = 𝜆 ∙ tan(23.43712)

23.43712

c) Determine the right ascension and declination of the Sun on 30.03.2017. Consider that the
March equinox in Helsinki will be on 20.03.2017, and assume that the Sun moves uniformly in
the ecliptic at an average rate of 0.98 degrees/day. 2p

Ans. Vernal point coordinates are: R.A. 0h 0m 0s, Dec. 0°0′0″, and the ecliptic longitude(λ). 0°0′0″,
Ecliptic latitude (β). 0°0′0″. After 10 days, the sun has moved 9.8 degrees in total. As the sun moves
in the plane of the ecliptic, its coordinates in this system of reference are: λ 9.8°, β 0°0′0″. By
using transforming equations between the two systems we have:
δ = sen−1 (senβcosε+cosβsenεsenλ) & α = tan−1
([-sen β sen ε + cos β cos ε sen λ]/ cosλcosβ])

δ = sen-1 (sen(23°26′13.6″*)x sen(9.8)) = 3°52′52.75″

α = tan−1
(cos(23°26′13.6″*) x sen(9.8)/cos(9.8)) = 9°0′19.08″

Problem 2.

Observations and visibility

You are invited to spend a weekend as an intern at La Silla Observatory in Chile. You will have the
opportunity to make observations at 90 GHz from 19.03.2017 and 22.03.2017 between 21:00 and
06:00 local time (UTC -4). From the old notes of your Radio astronomy course you have an old list
of objects (table 1) and you are considering to use those sources during the weekend. If that the
observatory is located at a latitude 29°15′36″ S and a longitude 70°43′48″ W:

a) Can you observe all the sources listed in the table 1? Please justify your answer with
approximate justifications. Make any necessary assumptions and explain them down. (Tip.
Point 1c, can be an ally for you). 3p
b) Considering the contacts you got during your Radio astronomy course, you are interested in
making observations during the same days at Metsähvovi Radio Telescope (latitude 60°13ʹ05ʺ
N and a longitude 24°23ʹ38ʺ E). Which of these sources can be observed in both observatories?
Is it possible to make any observation for any source exactly at the same time? Justify your
analysis. 3p

Ans. In this exercise we are not interested in the exact position of the sources, we only need to have
an estimation of the visibilities of the sources during the observation period. Following this idea, we
can approximate La Silla observatory as f ≈ -29º, longitude ≈ -71º. We can also approximate the
location of our sources as:

No Source ~RA. J2000 ~Dec. J2000

1 0235+164 40º +17°
2 NRAO 150 60º +51°
3 3C 273 187º +02°
4 1510-089 228º -09°
5 1610-771 244º -77º

First we can repeat what we did in the first point, and check which sources are circumpolar, or that
do not rise at all.

1. Circumpolar objects to La Silla? (𝞭 < - 61)

No Source ~Dec. J2000 𝞭 < - 90 - 𝞥 𝞭 > + 90 + 𝞥

1 0235+164 +17° N N
2 NRAO 150 +51° N N
3 3C 273 +02° N N
4 1510-089 -09° N N
5 1610-771 -77º Y -
So we have our first object that will be always visible for us, now we can continue
analyzing the other 4 objects.
2. Now we can calculate the rising and setting times by using the formula for the hour angle:

(1)
where ‘–‘ means rise and ‘+’ set. Now, for sidereal time we have:
(2)
As we saw in point 1c, we have the observations between one day before and two days after
the equinox. Therefore, we can tie the local solar time to the sidereal time (Q) as:
(3) *Note that here 12h means 12 hours!
Using the equinox day to have a general estimation of the rise and set of our list of objects (n =
0), and the equations (1), (2), and (3), we have:

(4) *If you get a negative

number add 24h to your result ;).

No Source T rise (h) T set (h)

1 0235+164 9.317 20.016

2 NRAO 150 12.880 19.120
3 3C 273 18.541 6.393
4 1510-089 20.864 9.536

We also do not need to bother about converting T to Chilean standard time (UTC -4), since the
differences shall be less than an hour (remember the definition of local solar time). Therefore,
3C273, 1510-089, and 1610-771 are observable during the windows of time that we have during
the 3 nights of observations! (Please note how we made good use of definitions in order to
 simplify and reduce the calculations and give the correct answers relatively easy. In addition,
do not worry about memorising formulas, you will be given most of the formulae in the exam)

3. Circumpolar objects to Metsähovi (60º)? (𝞭 > 30)

No Source ~Dec. J2000 𝞭 > + 90 - 𝞥 𝞭 < - 90 + 𝞥

1 3C 273 +02° N N
2 1510-089 -09° N N
3 1610-771 -77º - Y
So, from the 3 objects that we can observe in La Silla, we already discard 1610-771. Applying
the same equation (4) for the 2 other sources, we get that:

No Source T rise (h) T set (h)

1 3C 273 6.698 18.235

2 1510-089 22.262 8.138

Making the same approximation about the local solar time in Finland, we can compare the rise and
set of the objects in both observatories.

No Source T rise (h Metsa) T set (h Metsa) T rise (h Metsa) T set (h Metsa)

Metsähovi Metsähovi La Silla La Silla

1 3C 273 6.698 18.235 0.541 12.393

2 1510-089 22.262 8.138 2.864 15.536

Notice that we have found that both sources are possible to observe at the same time, but in a more
detailed reasoning, we can find that the elevation of 1510-089 is quite low at MRO, making in
practice really hard to observe it. With 3C 273 the problem comes with the elevation of the source
during the period of time that is observable in both observatories, making in practice impossible to
observer it at the same time, but possible during the same day =) . (Tip for the exam: most
probably you will need to answer if the sources are visible in two or more telescopes, but not
exactly at the same time ;) )

Problem 3

Solar physics

a) Describe briefly what is a solar flare (1p).

A solar flare is a burst of radiation usually associated to sunspots. Flares occur when magnetic
energy accumulated on the solar atmosphere is suddenly released producing intense brightness and
emission of radiation at all wavelengths.

b) What are geomagnetic storms? (1p).

 A geomagnetic storm is the disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere. It is associated to solar
activity such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections which produce rapid fluctuations on the solar
wind shock wave such that it strikes the Earth magnetic field after 24 and 36 hours after the solar
event. Geomagnetic storms lead intense currents on the magnetosphere, it heats the ionosphere as
well as the upper region of the thermosphere producing the so-called aurora borealis.
c) Explain the consequences of geomagnetic storms over Earth-orbiting satellites and
communications. (1p).

Although geomagnetic storms produce beautiful aurora lights, they can damage satellites bn
discharging the currents on them, specially on geosynchronous orbit satellites. At high latitudes
their impact can be significant since the high currents could produce temporary loss of electrical
power, black outs in regions having long power lines and where ground is poorly conducting.

d) Solar flares are usually classified by their X-ray brightness, for instance C-class type solar flares
are considered to be 'weak' when compared to X-class type solar flares. (The latter ones are
characterized by their very strong X-ray emission which could cause strong geomagnetic storms).
This year on July 21st was registered a small C-class type solar flare. The maximum radiation
emission of this flare took place at 12:55 UTC. The pictures displayed below show both the
sunspots (2565, 2467, 2569) and a UV-band image both images were taken by different instruments
on space. (2p)

Figure 1. Solar sunspots observed by SDO/HMI Figure 2. Extreme ultraviolet image taken by SOHO
continuum. satellite.

The Metsähovi Radio observatory often observes the Sun at 37GHz. Visit the website
http://www.metsahovi.fi/solar-gallery , identify a solar map on the day and time of the solar flare
event. Choose a picture and copy and paste it to your homework. Compare your 37 GHz solar map
with the pictures shown above. Do you find regions of large brightness? How does your solar map
image correlate with the images shown in figure 1 and 2? Could you give a rough estimation of
sunspots locations on your solar map?
 Figure 3. Solar Map at 37 GHz. The image is 21.07.2016. Credits: Metsähovi Radio Observatory.

Two bright emission regions can be distinguished (see white circles) on the 37 GHz solar map: one
above the equator and the other on the equator. There is a very bright and extended emission
(region 2) which is found on the East approximately at 13 relative arcmin times 0 relative arcmin.
This region correlates well with the sunspots 2467 and 2565 observed by SDO/HMI continuum
instrument. The other emission region (region 1) has a low brightness but still luminous to be
associated to sunspot 2569. In general, both regions correlate well to the UV-band image which
shows the low coronal activity next to the equator.

Problem 4

Single Dish Radio Astronomy

A student had the opportunity to observe a galaxy with the Onsala 20 m telescope. At 22 Ghz the
main beam efficiency is 𝜖S = 0.61 and the aperture efficiency is h = 0.55.

a) Calculate the effective colleting area Ae. (2p)

b) The unpolarized point source has a flux density of 5 Jy, calculate the temperature of the antenna.
(3p)
We know that the power collected by an area Ae is:

where Sv is the flux density (5 Jy =5x10-26 J s-1 m-2 Hz-1 ) and kB the Boltzmann constant. The
temperature of antenna produced by the point source is: