Extended essay

Investigating the 21 cm
hydrogen line

Word count: 3423

Abstract

The research question examined in this essay is “To what extent can the 21 cm

hydrogen line be used to reliably estimate the distance of its source from Earth?” The essay

examines and outlines the importance of one of the most important spectral lines in radio

astronomy known, the 21 cm hydrogen line. The aim of the essay is to explore the possibility

of mapping the source of this signal and to investigate the reliability of this method.

Data was collected by using a self-made radio telescope and measuring the signal in

several different regions of the sky. The data was then processed and compared to other data

gathered using an online radio astronomy database whose data is maintained using several

observing stations.

Several experimental imperfections were faced due to the basic equipment and

interference. Furthermore, the approach was also limited to bright sources that were relatively

near Earth and failed to explore sources farther away or less active ones. However, it was

concluded that the data gathered matched the data pertinent to the database to a large extent

(0.9981 correlation). Thus, it was concluded that the hydrogen line approach is indeed

accurate when it comes to mapping its sources.

Word count: 200

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my English teachers Ivica Cikac and Irena Kocijan-Pevec for their

useful writing advices. I am hugely indebted to my father, Dusan Novak, for his help with the

equipment and assistance during the conduction of the measurements. Lastly, I am also

immensely grateful to my supervisor, Dinko Mestrovic, for his help, support and generous

guidance throughout the entire project.

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Table of contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4

Research question............................................................................................... 5

Theory.................................................................................................................... 5

Cause of the spectral line ................................................................................... 5

Preparatory calculations ..................................................................................... 6

Data Collection Setup ............................................................................................ 9

Observations ........................................................................................................ 12

Measurements and uncertainties ...................................................................... 15

Raw data ........................................................................................................... 16

Data processing and analysis............................................................................... 17

Comparison analysis ........................................................................................ 20

Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 22

Evaluation and improvement .............................................................................. 23

Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 25

Appendix ............................................................................................................. 26

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INTRODUCTION
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato once said: “Astronomy compels the soul to look

upwards and leads us from this world to another.” [11]

To that I say: “Yes, but why only look?!”

I have always been fascinated by astrophysics, the fusion of physics and astronomy.

However, astronomy is not just limited to the sense of sight, there is a whole field of

astronomy concerned with radio frequencies - radio astronomy. There are a vast number of

radio sources, such as stars and galaxies, in our universe which emit waves that we can detect

on Earth with radio antennas and telescopes. This fact opens up new possibilities of exploring

the universe which are

unthinkable to conduct optically.

Moreover, due to the

advancements in technology,

amateur radio astronomy is on

the rise – more advanced

projects are becoming possible

to conduct using relatively

Figure 1: [10] Shows the famous Australian Parkes observatory
simple equipment [1, 2, 3].
radio telescope

The subject matter of this paper is the 21 cm hydrogen line, one of the most important of

those radio signals coming from space. It is estimated that hydrogen makes up approximately

75% of our visible universe’s mass and monoatomic neutral hydrogen is the most common

form of it. Moreover, neutral hydrogen in the plane of the galaxy, in the form of giant

hydrogen clouds, emits a radio wave [4, 5]. Further, a small, basic radio telescope can be

constructed and used to detect the radio hydrogen emission.

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RESEARCH QUESTION
To what extent can the 21 cm hydrogen line be used to reliably estimate the distance of

its source from Earth?

Large hydrogen gas clouds in the plane of our galaxy are well known sources of the

hydrogen emission. The radio wave, with 21 cm wavelength and 1420.4058 MHz frequency,

can thus be received here on Earth [6]. Since there is relative motion present between the

source, cloud, and the Earth (Solar System), the frequency received was not the same as the

actual frequency of the cloud due to the Doppler effect. Based on that feature one can estimate

the velocity of the cloud along the line of sight, the so called radial velocity, and thus

calculate the distance of the cloud. This is very significant in astrophysics, because of the dust

and gas present in the galactic plane it is impossible to accurately estimate the distance of the

observed objects optically [5, 7].

The aim of this research was to observe the hydrogen line in various regions of the sky

and based on the observations calculate the velocities and distances of the objects observed.

Furthermore, to question the accuracy of these numbers, the distances calculated using the

measurements have been compared to distances calculated using an online database with

values maintained from various radio telescopes.

THEORY

CAUSE OF THE SPECTRAL LINE

A hydrogen atom consists of one proton, that is, the nucleus, and one electron spinning

around it. Now, because of the very low temperatures in outer space the neutral hydrogen

atoms of the gas are in their lowest energy state, which means that the electron of an atom is

as close as it gets to the proton, nucleus. That said, both the electron and the proton spin in an

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individual axis, when both spin in the same direction that is called the parallel spin and

antiparallel spin when they spin in opposite directions.

Figure 2: [6] Illustration of the change and photon release described

What actually causes the spectral line is the change from parallel to antiparallel spin.

Since the energy in an atom with parallel spin is greater than the energy in an atom with

antiparallel spin, when the spin of an atom changes, energy is emitted in the form of a low

energy photon causing the electromagnetic radiation spectral line. The wave emitted in this

case is a radio wave, i.e. low frequency (1420.4 MHz) and high wavelength (21 cm) [4, 6, 7].

PREPARATORY CALCULATIONS
Since the Earth (the Solar System) is not at rest, it is orbiting the Galactic Centre, the

signal received by the telescope will be Doppler shifted. Meaning it will contain the

movement of both the cloud and our Solar System around the Galactic Centre. Therefore one

can based upon this estimate whether the object observed is moving away from us or moving

towards us.

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R – the distance of the observed
object, hydrogen cloud, from the
Galactic Centre (v – its velocity)

R0 – the distance of the Solar

system from the Galactic Centre
(v0 – its velocity)

l – galactic longitude

S – the Solar system

C – Galactic Centre

M – source (cloud)

T – tangential point

Figure 3: [7] Shows the visualized source and observer (Earth, Solar system)

The velocity observed by the radio telescope is the velocity in the line of sight,

illustrated below, the so called radial velocity. It can be expressed with the equation

𝑣𝑟 = 𝑣 cos 𝛼 − 𝑣0 sin 𝑐

This is the radial velocity and is expressed as the gas cloud’s velocity along the line of sight

minus our (the Sun’s) velocity along the line of sight.

The figure also indicates that 𝑐 = 𝑙 and that 𝛼 = 𝑎 . In addition, when looking at the

expression for 𝐶𝑇,

𝐶𝑇 = 𝑅 cos 𝛼 = 𝑅0 sin 𝑙

One can derive another equation for 𝑣𝑟

𝑅0 𝑅0
𝑣𝑟 = 𝑣 sin 𝑙 − 𝑣0 sin 𝑙 = (𝑣 − 𝑣0 ) sin 𝑙
𝑅 𝑅

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Assuming that the gas clouds in the Milky Way obey differential rotation, meaning that

circular velocity is constant with radius, since it is known that the velocity does not depend on

the radius (distance from the Centre) beyond a certain distance, one can write 𝑣 = 𝑣0 =

𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡. Thus expressing the distance of the gas from the Galactic Centre as

𝑅0 𝑣0 sin 𝑙
𝑅= (1)
𝑣0 sin 𝑙 + 𝑣𝑟

Note that this is contradictory to Keplerian motion.

Figure 4: [12] The rotation curve of the Milky Way (observed and the
one that would be expected by applying Kepler’s laws)

The curve is horizontal beyond a certain distance, which means that the velocity does not

depend upon the radius after this distance any more. It can also be seen that the velocity is

significantly higher than Keplerian motion would suggest, which is attributed to dark matter,

since it shows that additional matter is present at greater distances. [7]

Now, applying the cosine rule to the triangle CSM one can state that

𝑅 2 = (𝑅0 )2 + 𝑟 2 − 2𝑅0 𝑑 cos 𝑙

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After applying the quadratic equation the distance of the cloud from the Sun, 𝑟 can be

expressed as [4, 5, 7]

𝑟1,2 = ±√𝑅 2 − (𝑅0 )2 sin2 𝑙 + 𝑅0 cos 𝑙 (2)

So, it is in fact possible to come to two distinct solutions – one can obtain a negative

number and neglect it since it physically does not make sense, one can also obtain two

positive solutions. If 90° < 𝑙 < 270°, than cos 𝑙 < 0, so one obtains just one positive number.

In other cases where one gets two positive solutions it is advised to observe at the same

longitude, but different latitudes in order to determine the correct solution [7].

DATA COLLECTION SETUP

The simplest way of describing a radio telescope is that it basically consists of two crucial

parts - an antenna and a receiver [2, 5].

1) Antenna – this is where the signal and the telescope meet. The electromagnetic waves,

meaning the signal, are turned into electric currents, an oscillating electronic signal.

2) Receiver – the electronic signal then, through coaxial cabling, comes to this part.

Based on the voltage, the receiver is then able to compute the signal strength

It is also important to mention that most telescopes also have amplifiers in between the two

parts, because the signals observed is typically very weak. So, the electric currents are being

amplified.

For this investigation specifically, a basic, self-made radio telescope was constructed.

The instructions for this project were mainly from an article by M. Leech of Science Radio

Laboratories [3] in combination with other articles/instructions from the same author with

collaboration [1, 2].

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 Figure 5: [3] A basic sketch of how the equipment is connected into a telescope

1) Offset dish

A normal offset fed dish was used, because of financial reasons mostly. The dish is 95

cm tall and 85 cm wide, which is a bit small considering hydrogen line observations,

since about 1 m is recommended. However, according to the instructions similar

dimensions have been used in their case. The hardware of the dish also included a Ku-

Band LNB, which was helpful when placing the feed assembly.

2) Feed assembly (waveguide)

A small feed assembly was constructed as an addition to the feed arm hardware, its

purpose is to maximize the gain of the feed. The feed was constructed by combining a

tin-plated coffee can with an aluminium adapter, to better illuminate the dish. The

LNA was soldered to the can. The assembly also functions like a filter, in that it

reduces the interference with signal whose frequency is less than 1100 MHz by the so

called high pass filter effect.

3) Amplifiers

There were three stages of amplification – firstly, a low noise amplifier (LNA) with

0.4 dB noise figure and 20 dB gain was used. Such a low noise figure is important for

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 this first stage, since the noise of the signal is extremely weak. Therefore a lower noise

figure increases the detection chances. The next two stages, to amplify the current

even more, included regular in-line amplifiers each with 20 dB of gain.

4) Cabling and power supply

As for the connection between the motioned hardware, standard 75 ohm RG-6 coaxial

cabling was used. Moreover, a DC 12 V power inserter was used as a supply.

5) Receiver

A software defined radio (SDR) receiver was used. It was, on the one end, connected

to the computer and on the other, through cabling, to the power supply.

Figure 6: My radio telescope setup

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 Figure 7: Shows the SDR used. This acted as the receiver and was
connected to the computer

OBSERVATIONS
Some well known radio sources that were observed such as the Cassiopeia constellation,

Sagittarius A and Taurus [8, 9]. Firstly, using the Stellarium application, the position and

galactic longitude of these objects were determined. The telescope beam was then pointed at

them when the signal was successfully targeted, it was recorded for approximately 15 to 20

minutes [2, 3, 4, 5].

GnuRadio SDR framework for Linux was used for this investigation – two components

specifically, osmocom_fft which is a simple spectrum analyser which shows a amplitude vs

frequency graph and simple_ra (simple radio astronomy) which is used to not only record the

data, but also it can be used to create power vs velocity graphs which were useful later for the

analysis.

When searching for a signal, osmocom_fft component was used. When opening the simple_ra

to record, however, some parameters must have been entered: the central frequency

(1420.4058 MHz), the gain (dB), the sample rate (1 million Hz), the logging-rate (5 s –

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suggested value, sets the logging interval for logging data), the detector bandwidth (around

80% of the sample rate) [2]

Peak (one cloud) right from the center

Central axis

Figure 8: Shows a simple_ra “Spectral” interface. A similar graph would be

displayed in the osmocom_fft tool (with the peak right from the centre)

The figure above shows an example of a hydrogen observation. It shows the Spectral

window, one out of four windows of the simple_ra application. The example is from

observing the Cassiopeia constellation. It can be seen that the peak is right to the central

frequency, meaning that the apparent frequency, the one we observe, is larger than the known

accepted value of the hydrogen emission frequency. So, considering the Doppler effect, this

means that the object, cloud, observed is moving towards the Earth in the example. It can also

be seen that there is a lot of interference with the very weak hydrogen signal.

In order to get the velocities of the objects observed, the simple_ra data was processed using

the spectral data utility. What this utility plots are graphs with regards to velocity, not MHz,

which is how professionals observe the galactic plane. The utility also takes the Doppler shift

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into account when constructing these plots, using the apparent and central value of the

frequency observed, by using the formula

∆𝑓 𝑣
= −
𝑓0 𝑐

Where the frequency shift, ∆𝑓 = 𝑓 − 𝑓0 , where 𝑓 is the observed frequency and 𝑓0 the rest

frequency (1420.4058 MHz) and 𝑐 the speed of light [2, 7].

The two peaks

representing the two
clouds (sources)
recorded

Image resolution (in

terms of velocity)

Figure 9: A processed velocity graph from which the velocity was read

The figure above shows one of these graphs. This particular example shows the graph

of the Taurus region. Notice that there are multiple peaks shown. Each of these peaks is a

cloud, meaning that the in the example there were 2 separate clouds present in the field

observed. Note that other, smaller peaks were ruled out as disturbances, interference.

Consequently, the velocity of each cloud was noted. Also note that there are also negative

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velocities present, this means that the object observed in approaching (Doppler effect).

Moreover, notice the resolution given at the bottom.

MEASUREMENTS AND UNCERTAINTIES

Since the galactic longitude has only been estimated and approximately targeted by the

telescope using the Stellarium computer application, the uncertainty for the calculations is

estimated to be 1˚. In the figure below, from which one can easily identify region of 10˚ (one

square), I estimate that my precision at pointing towards the certain source was about 1˚,

covering a region of 2˚ longitude respectively.

Figure 10: An example of a target region of the Milky Way, Cassiopeia in the Stellarium application, the
galactic grid can also be seen. Note that the approximate region spans over 2˚ longitude (do not take into
account the latitude)

As for the velocity, the simple_ra program creates picture (png) plots and the

uncertainty of the velocities was given in terms of picture resolution, 0.103 km/s (Fig. 9, same

for every picture). However, the pictures had to be analysed using a different program in order

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 to maintain the raw data. I analysed them using the g3data program. When a picture graph is

to be analysed in this program, one has to select the 𝑦 and 𝑥 boundaries oneself with a mouse

click and then, when looking for the velocity value of the peak, I had to move the mouse to

this point.

Options to set the y

and x boundaries
Notice the zoom area
and the red dot (which
I moved with a
mouse) whose x value
represents the velocity Figure 11: the graph
from Fig. 9 shown in
the g3data program
for analysis

Given that further uncertainty arises from my precision to point the mentioned things

correctly, I estimate the uncertainty of the measurements has to therefore be increased by 0.01

km/s, so 0.113 km/s. Note that this figure was used in the calculations, the value below is

rounded up to one significant digit.

RAW DATA1
As described above, a longitude represents a certain region of the sky targeted and there

can be multiple peaks in one region (Fig. 9) representing different clouds with different

velocities, therefore they were each noted for each region.

1
See Appendix for unrounded values. Same for Table 2 and 3

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 Longitude, l (˚) ± 1˚ Radial velocity (km/s) ± 0.1 km/s

105 -4.3
-6.1
-14.0
126 -6.5
-4.5
-2.2
170 -6.3
-4.5
12 2.6
110 -2.4
-38.6

Table 1: The longitudes of the observations done and the peaks, meaning radial
velocities of separate clouds measured for each longitude (region)

DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS

Table 2

Distance between the source and R uncertainty, ΔR

Longitude, l (˚) ± 1˚
the Galactic Centre, R (1020 m) (1020 m)

105 2.6 ±0.1

2.5 ±0.1
3.2 ±0.2
126 2.9 ±0.1
2.8 ±0.1
2.7 ±0.1
170 2.9 ±0.1
2.8 ±0.1
12 2.7 ±0.4
110 2.1 ±0.1
0.5 ±0.6

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Table 3

Distance between the source

Longitude, l (˚) ± 1˚ 20
r uncertainty, Δr (1020 m)
and the Earth, r (10 m)

105 0.3 ±2.0

0.5 ±2.0
6 ±1
126 5 ±2
5 ±2
5 ±2
170 5 ±2
5 ±2
12 3 ±2
110 0.5 ±1.0
2 ±1

Tables 2 and 3: The distances R and r calculated for each velocity (cloud)

Both the table are based upon Eq. (1) and Eq. (2) from the theory chapter.

𝑚𝑎𝑥−𝑚𝑖𝑛
The uncertainty for each was calculated using the same principle; . Therefore,
2

by using Eq. (1) the uncertainty for 𝑅 can be written as

1 sin 𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛 sin 𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑥

∆𝑅 = 𝑅0 𝑣0 ( − ) (3)
2 𝑣0 sin 𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑥 + 𝑣𝑟,𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑣0 sin 𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛 + 𝑣𝑟,𝑚𝑎𝑥

Regardless of the constants, when looking at the numerator of the maximum value, one can

see that the longitude in the sines is minimal, and maximal for the numerator of the minimal

value. This is because nearly all the observed values are between 90 and 180 degrees, so the

lower the longitude, the greater the sine and vice versa. Now, the denominator has to be

minimal for the maximum value and vice versa, so the minimal or maximal radial velocity

values were used based on the uncertainty discussed above. The exact opposite was done

when calculation for the source at 12˚.

The uncertainty for 𝑟, on the other hand, using Eq. (2) was calculated by

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 1
∆𝑟 = (√𝑅𝑚𝑎𝑥 2 − 𝑅0 2 sin2 𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛 − √𝑅𝑚𝑖𝑛 2 − 𝑅0 2 sin2 𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑥 + 𝑅0 (cos 𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑥 −
2

(4)
cos 𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛 ))

The same as above applies for the min and max sine values, however, the cosine values

increase as longitude increases for the given values. So, greater longitudes for maximum and

smaller for minimum values have been taken.

Again, the opposite was done for the data at 12˚. It was also estimated that the observation

done at approximately 12˚ was the Sagittarius A star cloud, a large well known radio source

right at the centre of the Milky Way [8, 13], so the longitude for further calculations was

estimated to be 12˚ 32’ 59.8’’ (the figure was searched for the mentioned cloud specifically

using Stellarium), instead of 12˚, but with the uncertainty being the same, 1˚.

For instance taking the value at 105˚, the cloud with radial velocity -4.3 km/s, the

2.62×1017 ×220×sin 105˚

distance 𝑅 can be calculated as: = 2.57 × 1017 𝑘𝑚
220×sin 105˚−4.261

And its uncertainty as (note that 105˚ is greater than 90˚):

1 sin 104˚ sin 106˚

± 2 × 2.62 × 1017 × 220 (220 sin 106˚+4.148 − ) = ±4.32 × 1015 𝑘𝑚
220 sin 104˚+4.374

Now, the distance 𝑟 is calculated as: ±√(2.57 × 1017 )2 − (2.62 × 1017 )2 sin2 105 ˚ +

2.62 × 1017 cos 105˚ = 2.67 𝑜𝑟 9.96 × 1016 , now eliminating the latter solution, because of

repeated measurements gives 2.67× 1016 km.

And its uncertainty:

1
± 2 (√(2.61 × 1017 )2 − (2.62 × 1017 )2 sin2 104˚ −

√(2.53 × 1017 )2 − (2.62 × 1017 )2 sin2 106˚ + (2.62 × 1017 )(cos 106˚ − cos 104˚)) =

±1.94 × 1017 𝑘𝑚

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Also note that the uncertainty values in the tables above have been rounded up to one

significant digit in the tables.

COMPARISON ANALYSIS
In order to evaluate the accuracy of the data gathered by the measurements, I used

secondary data from an online resource – http://euhou.obspm.fr/public/simu.php. This source

enables the user to simulate radio observations or to use their archives as a resource.

Galactic coordinates

Peak (cloud)

Figure 12: The interface of the simulated radio telescope

Even though the galactic latitude did not matter for my calculations as stated above, it was

necessary here to search the database. Therefore, it was, like the longitude, estimated using

the Stellarium application. Note that I also estimated that the uncertainty for the latitude is 1˚

and thus when searching the database this was taken into account. So, the values that were

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most similar to the values based on the measurements were taken for further analysis. Also

note that there is no uncertainty given for the values obtained from the database. However, it

can be assumed that the value is significantly low.

Longitude (˚) Latitude (˚) Radial velocity (km/s) R (1020 m) r (1020 m)

105 -25 -4 2.57 0.25

-4 2.78 5.11
126 -4
-38 5.50 7.91
170 -23 7 2.40 4.68
12 -29 3 2.66 2.69
-2 2.18 0.45
110 -5
-41 0.50 2.13

Table 4: The values obtained from the database

1E+18
Distance of each cloud (database and measured)
8E+17
Distances from Earth, r (km)

6E+17

4E+17

2E+17

0
105˚ 126˚ 170˚ 18˚
12˚ 110˚
-2E+17

-4E+17
Longitudes of the observed sources (˚)

Figure 13: The distances of the clouds calculated using my measurements (blue) plotted with the
distances calculated using the database values (red)

Almost all the values obtained from the database can be assigned to one or even more of the

values I obtained, with respect to the error bars. When looking at the clouds observed at 126˚,

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it can be seen that the value I wasn’t able to detect was way further from Earth than the other

sources.

Figure 14: The correlation of the database values and the measured ones.
Created using LoggerPro3.12

Taking the values that were calculated using the database and plotting them against the

values calculated using the measurements that were most likely coming from the same source

(minimal difference between the two values in the case with the observation at 126˚, since

more values fit the database number), one can see a very strong positive correlation, 0.9981.

Furthermore, it also helps identifying which values are more accurate.

CONCLUSION
Overall, the project was successful in that it showed that radio waves, the hydrogen

emission in particular, can be used to estimate the velocities and furthermore the distance of

celestial objects reliably. The distances calculated using the measurements were in line with

the distances calculated using the database values, within reasonable error. Furthermore,

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judging from the correlation in Fig. 14, one can say that these indeed originated from the

same source.

However, some flaws have to be pointed out as well, for instance the fact that some

values were not assigned to a database value. This can be linked to the equipment – when

looking at database values that turned out to come from a source very far away, one can say

that it was not possible to detect because of the basic equipment (Fig. 13 at 126˚). Due to this

fact, the data collection was limited to relatively near and brighter sources which reduced the

number of data which the conclusion is based on.

Similarly, it can be seen that values farther away seem follow the correlation pattern in

Fig. 14 a little less. This leads to the conclusion that the distances calculated for farther away

sources are less reliable, which can, again, be linked to the limitations associated with the

imperfections of the equipment. Another thing to notice is that when looking at Fig. 13, it

seems as though multiple of the measurements obtained could be linked to the same database

value, which leads me to the conclusion that perhaps they originated from the same source

(cloud) and due to some signal interference (discussed below) the software recognised them

as two or more distinct clouds.

EVALUATION AND IMPROVEMENT

The limits of the project can largely be traced to the limits of the equipment used. For

instance, in order to get a sense of how weak of a signal the telescope can detect, some

regions that are known to be more “quiet”, but still having visible hydrogen sources like the

Acquarius cold spot [8] were tried to be targeted on several different occasions. However,

these attempts were without any success. So, the data collection was very limited to “louder”

sources.

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 One of the imperfections of the equipment was, for instance, the feed assembly. Even

though the can in the feed assembly was made of galvanized steel, an aluminium adapter was

used to illuminate the dish instead of a galvanized steel adapter [3]. This change can influence

the way the signal was illuminated and thus make the measurements less accurate or one

could argue that this influenced the fact that the telescope was not able to detect weaker

signals or signals coming from source farther away.

Furthermore, another big threat for the accuracy of the measurements was the

interference. Even though the measurements were, on purpose, not done in an urban area, they

were still made relatively close to an airport in Pribislavec, Croatia, approximately 6 km

away. This is most likely the biggest cause of the radio waves to interfere and thus make the

data less reliable, similar occurrences have been noted by other amateur astronomers [1]. I can

only estimate the operating frequency, which I would say is about 1100-1300 MHz. Now, this

signal can be heard sometimes at the place of the observations and more often than not it is

very weak. However, it can be said that it can cause a systematic error to a certain extent in

some measurements, since it operated at a frequency too big to be attenuated by the feed

assembly.

Another thing to consider is the structure of the dish. An offset-fed dish was used for

this investigation. However, using a prime focus dish would be a significant improvement for

further studies. Not only is a prime focus dish easier to point, but also its gain is proportional

to its diameter – it is ideal to use for a relatively short radio wavelength, such as the 21 cm

signal [2]. Furthermore, this is the kind of dish that professionals use for these very reasons.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] M. Leech and D. Ocame, "A year of Gnu Radio and SDR astrononomy: experience,

practice and observations" Apr. 2007.

[2] M. Leech, Science Radio Laboratories, Inc,"simple_ra, A collection of tools for

amateur radio astronomy observations" 2006.

[3] M. Leech, Science Radio Laboratories, Inc, "A 21cm Radio Telescope for the Cost-

Conscious" 2006.

[4] “The Mass of the Milky Way,” dartmouth.edu. [Online]. Available:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gfeiden/docs/MWrotate.pdf. [Accessed: 22-Aug-2016].

[5] M. Gallaway, An Introduction to Observational Astrophysics, 1st ed. Spinger

International Publishing, 2016.

[6] “The Hydrogen 21-cm Line,” HyperPhysics. [Online]. Available:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/h21.html. [Accessed: 26-Jul-

2016].

[7] C. Horellou and D. Johansson, "Hands-On Radio Astronomy, Mapping the Milky

Way," Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. [Online]. Available:

http://www.euhou.net/docupload/files/radiosweden.pdf. Accessed: May 20, 2016.

[8] “H Line Observation.” [Online]. Available:

http://i1ndp.altervista.org/radio_astronomy.html. [Accessed: 28-Aug-2016].

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http://lea.hamradio.si/~s53rm/Radio%20Astronomy.htm. [Accessed: 26-Aug-2016].

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[10] “Parkes Observatory,” Parkes Observatory. [Online]. Available:

https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/Facilities/ATNF/Parkes-radio-telescope/Parkes-

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APPENDIX
The tables with the values used for calculations (all figures shown are to be multiplied by
1017):

Table 1

Longitude, l (˚) ± 1˚ Radial velocity (1017 km/s) ± 0.113

105 -4.261
-6.103
-13.984
126 -6.479
-4.532
-2.173
170 -6.341
-4.530
12 2.590
110 -2.420
-38.593

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Table 2

Distance between the source and R uncertainty, ΔR (1020

Longitude, l (˚) ± 1˚
the Galactic Centre, R (1020 m) m)

105 2.57152 ±0.04319

2.54998 ±0.05855
3.24835 ±0.21440
126 2.87988 ±0.10105
2.79738 ±0.07108
2.70364 ±0.03445
170 2.86064 ±0.10007
2.78846 ±0.07194
12 2.65892 ±0.41571
110 2.10057 ±0.03447
0.52829 ±0.58068

Table 3

Distance between the source R uncertainty, Δr (1020

Longitude, l (˚) ± 1˚
and the Earth, r (1020 m) m)

105 0.26742 ±1.94278

0.48174 ±1.95963
5.60683 ±1.38282
126 5.22265 ±1.67797
5.13602 ±1.77211
5.03727 ±1.90775
170 5.17251 ±1.73033
5.09627 ±1.81843
12 2.68316 ±1.79847
110 0.52290 ±0.31038
2.10486 ±0.65654

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