RADIO ASTRONOMY - An Introduction

Abstract

Wonders of the night sky developed curiously to the ancient civilization and paved way to the development of an oldest branch of knowledge, Astronomy. Today it has developed to be rich field in science. Astronomy is much different from many other science fields. ? It deals with remote subjects, unimaginable magnitude distances, sizes and time. The conventional optical telescope could not reveal vast majority of objects in the sky. Apart from light there are other invisible radiations reaching the Earth from the celestial objects. People started exploring both ends of the electromagnetic spectrum. Ever since World War II, astronomers are exploring the radio sky, by using Radio Telescopes. It became a new branch of study, the Radio Astronomy. Interesting fundamental discoveries and the inquisitive nature of the problems developed curiosity for future explorations in this field. The celestial radio signals reaching us are extremely week. It is required to develop sophisticated tools and powerful techniques to aid radio astronomy observations. Today Radio Astronomy has developed to be a highly interdisciplinary field with connections to various fields of science and engineering.