Observing the Radio Sky

If you have ever wondered whether there was an easy-to-follow introduction to the fascinating subject of radio astronomy, look no further. Jeff Lashley’s The Radio Sky and How to Observe It will not only provide you with solid information about the many celestial radio sources, it will also encourage you to have a go at simple radio astronomy projects. If you have enjoyed previous RadioUser articles on monitoring the Sun and Jupiter, Satellites, or Meteor Scatter, I think you will find much in this book to fascinate you. The author looks at the Sun and Jupiter, Meteors, Pulsars and much more in this richly-illustrated text. The chapter on Building a Very Low Frequency Solar Monitor is what got me into VLF monitoring in the first place. Other projects described here concern a microwave radio telescope, a Jupiter radio telescope, a broad-band solar radio telescope and issues of logging and processing your data. An intriguing book on one of the fastest-growing aspects of the radio hobby. You will want this in your shack if questions of radio wave propagation and space weather are of interest to you. Look out for Tim Kirby’s bi-monthly column on Signals from Space in RadioUser.

Lashley, J. (2010) The Radio Sky and How to Observe It (Springer)

https://www.springer.com/series/5338?detailsPage=titles