Matt Wilson, a physics major at Western Carolina University, has been doing research at PARI since the Fall Semester 2002, and continues into the Spring Semester 2003. Matt is mapping the 4829 MHz velocity structure of DR21, a giant molecular cloud. The frequency 4829 MHz is the absorption frequency of formaldehyde and DR21 is known to exhibit C2Ho absorption.  The FWHM beamwidth of one of PARI’s 26-m radio telescopes at 4829 MHz is about 10 arcminutes.  Matt will map DR21 by pointed observation, moving the telescope one-half beamwidth between measurements.  Total time of integration per spectrum is 1.5 hours.  And, each spectrum spans a bandwidth of 600 KHz, centered on 4829.66 MHz, with a resolution of 2 Hz.  He is using the RF Space, Inc spectrometer.

Since the spectrometer is relatively new at PARI, Matt has concentrated on working with us to make the fine adjustments and calibrations. For example, Charles Osborne, set up a 4829.66 MHz transmitter and Matt adjusted the rest frequency.  He has also observed several flux calibration sources and found the sensitivity to be less than 1 Jansky in 1 second.  The data is still coming in, and we will update this page as Matt continues his research.