The Radio Sky Tuned to 408MHz

The Radio Sky Tuned to 408MHz



Tune your radio telescope to 408MHz(408 million cycles per second) and check out the Radio Sky!You should find that frequency on you dial somewhere betweenUS broadcast television channels 13 and 14.In the 1970s large dish antennas atthree radio observatories, Jodrell Bank MPIfR, an Parkes Observatory,were used to do just that the data were combined to map the entire sky.Near this frequency,cosmic radio waves are generated by high energy electrons spiralingalong magnetic fields.In the resulting false color image, the galactic planeruns horizontally through the center, but n stars are visible.Instead, many of the bright sources near the planeare distant pulsars, star forming regions,and supernova remnants, while the gran looping structuresare pieces o bubbles blown by local stellar activity.External galaxies lik Centaurus A, located above the plane to theright of center, an the LMC (below and right)also shine in the Radio Sky.