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A team of astronomers has used a new calibration technique to give us the first sharp images of the radio Universe in the frequency range of 16-30 megahertz – an achievement previously thought impossible, due to the turbulent interference generated by Earth's ionosphere.Seeing the Universe with radio eyes presents some interesting challenges at the best of times.
At the lowest end of the electromagnetic spectrum, the radio range consists of the longest waves, which means they can penetrate Earth's atmosphere. However, because theSo, putting a radio telescope in space simply isn't a cost-effective means of studying the radio sky, and most radio telescopes have been deployed and run right here on Earth. But for the decameter frequency range, below 30 megahertz, this means we've not been able to see what's out there in fine detail.
The technique isn't perfect – lines radiate around radio sources in the new image; this is because the ionosphere causes the source to appear to move around. The calibration has pinpointed the source with higher precision, but some artifacts of the ionospheric influence remain. That's something that can be refined in further work.
For now, though, the team's efforts show a degree of precision that reveals details we'd never seen before. High-frequency and low-frequency radio emission is created by different processes and objects; studying galaxy clusters we'd only ever seen before in high-frequency radio waves showed that the emission is not evenly distributed, but has a sort of spotty pattern.For now, though, we know the technique works.
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