Signals from the Universe

Students will learn the basics of radioastronomy, a vibrant and expanding area of astronomy that looks for natural radio emission from space, even forming radio images of objects in the sky. This will be focused toward building a specialized receiver and antenna, which together form a simple radio telescope that will be used to “listen” to the sun. Students will gain skills in circuit design, signal processing, and an understanding of how electromagnetic waves work. Students will also visit the nearby VLBA telescope in North Liberty, Iowa — an element of a globe-spanning array of radio sensors that forms an Earth-sized telescope for observing the universe.