10 Involvement of the Sardinia Radio Telescope in the Breakthrough Listen Initiatives
103
Fig. 10.4 BL & OAC team at SRT
some aspects that had never been considered before. In 2019, a BL delegation formed
by Vishal Gajjar and David Mac Mahon flew to Sardinia and visited the SRT, Fig.
10.4 shows a picture taken during that visit.
One of the key science objectives of the BL program is to do extensive searches
towards the Galactic center, including at high frequencies. The conventional telescope
used for this purpose is the Green Bank Telescope
8 (GBT), which however loses
efficiency in case of poor weather conditions at K-band. SRT has to deal with the same
issue, but is ideally placed with respect to the GBT for carrying out complementary
observations. The key points of the discussion/agreement were as follows:
• Use dedicated time at the Sardinia Radio Telescope to conduct targeted searches;
• In particular, use the SRT’s unique high energy capabilities to conduct targeted
searches of the Galactic Center at high radio frequencies (C-band, K-band). Complementary to what other radio telescopes can offer;
• Breakthrough Listen observations involve the recording of baseband data. New
hardware will be installed at SRT for this purpose;
• In parallel with searching for ET, the data will be used to search for pulsars and
FRBs in the Galactic Center.
8 https://greenbankobservatory.org/science/telescopes/gbt/.
103
Fig. 10.4 BL & OAC team at SRT
some aspects that had never been considered before. In 2019, a BL delegation formed
by Vishal Gajjar and David Mac Mahon flew to Sardinia and visited the SRT, Fig.
10.4 shows a picture taken during that visit.
One of the key science objectives of the BL program is to do extensive searches
towards the Galactic center, including at high frequencies. The conventional telescope
used for this purpose is the Green Bank Telescope
8 (GBT), which however loses
efficiency in case of poor weather conditions at K-band. SRT has to deal with the same
issue, but is ideally placed with respect to the GBT for carrying out complementary
observations. The key points of the discussion/agreement were as follows:
• Use dedicated time at the Sardinia Radio Telescope to conduct targeted searches;
• In particular, use the SRT’s unique high energy capabilities to conduct targeted
searches of the Galactic Center at high radio frequencies (C-band, K-band). Complementary to what other radio telescopes can offer;
• Breakthrough Listen observations involve the recording of baseband data. New
hardware will be installed at SRT for this purpose;
• In parallel with searching for ET, the data will be used to search for pulsars and
FRBs in the Galactic Center.
8 https://greenbankobservatory.org/science/telescopes/gbt/.