The Radio Jove Project at Dalton State College by Dr. Samantha Kaj Blair
The Radio Jove Project is a radio astronomy project designed to help students learn planetary, solar and galactic radio astronomy, antenna and receiver engineering, and space physics. Synchrotron radiation at 20.1 MHz is created by the spiraling of fast-moving charged particles along the lines of the magnetic fields associated with Jupiter, the Sun, and the Galactic Center. This radiation was first detected by Karl Jansky, a radio engineer for Bell Labs in 1932 coming from our galactic center (Jansky 1933). In the 1940’s, this radiation was detected from the Sun,and in 1955 from Jupiter due to Jupiter’s strong magnetic field interacting with ions produced by the highly volcanic moon Io (Reber, 1940; Burke and Franklin, 1955). The 20.1 MHz frequency can be detected readily from the surface of the Earth with a relatively simple dipole antenna and a rudimentary receiver. The Radio Jove project is a way for students to get hands on experience in being a radio astronomer by building a radio telescope, making observations, taking data and reporting discoveries to a community of fellow observers.
Bio
Samantha Kaj Blair has been an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dalton State College for the last 8 years. She runs the Dalton State College Observatory with her colleague Xinghai Zhao. She received her BS in Forestry for Auburn University in 1995 and her MS in Botany/Molecular Biology from Auburn in 2000. In 2008, she completed her doctorate in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Georgia. She spent some time doing a post doc at SETI Institute after which she worked for Cal Berkeley as the Friend of the Telescope for the Allen Telescope Array at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Hat Creek, CA. She then became a Commissioning Scientist for the ALMA project in Chile for 2 years and then returned to the states to continue her career as an educator. She enjoys volunteer activities yearly like FIRST robotics and running engineering summer camps for kids.