The Galactic Anticenter with a 1-Metre Radio Telescope

The Galactic Anticenter with a 1-Metre Radio Telescope

The image shows a radio spectral map of the galactic anticenter. The galactic anticenter can be observed on winter nights from the northern hemisphere and is located in the constellation Auriga.

The spectral map reveals three spiral arms of the Milky Way. At the galactic anticenter the spectra overlap due to identical line-of-sight velocities, resulting in a particularly strong signal.

The data were recorded on 18 January 2025 during the night at the observatory under heavy cloud cover and fog. Yes — radio telescopes see right through clouds. Through terrestrial clouds as well as interstellar ones. Within 15 minutes, 25 spectra were captured with an integration time of 5 seconds each. Setup: - 1-metre dish - Nooelec SDR - Sawbird H1 LNA - RF Hamdesign Loop Feed - SDR# with IF AVE plugin

The analysis was carried out in Excel (images 2+3). For visualisation we used the program H-Line 3D by US amateur radio astronomer Alex Pettit.

For comparison, here is a spectral map from professional radio telescopes (Green Bank in the USA and Parkes in Australia). Source: Dickey, J.M. (2013). Galactic Neutral Hydrogen. In: Oswalt, T.D., Gilmore, G. (eds) Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5612-0_11 The region we observed is marked by the red box.