TY - GEN
T1 - Alternative Ways to Feed the Arecibo Observatory Spherical Reflector
AU - Alkhatib, Mohamed
AU - Breakall, James K.
AU - Alzaabi, Omar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 IEEE.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The Arecibo Observatory 1000 ft spherical dish has been used for many years for astronomy, planetary radar, atmospheric radar, and other research. However due to unfortunate and unforeseen events, the usage of such a monumental research instrument came to a halt as the whole feeding mechanism fell in December of 2020. The old feeding mechanism consisted of a Gregorian dome and a linefeed. Even though the original feed worked wonderfully for many years, it had its issues, it was incredibly heavy and especially hard to maintain. While there is currently no clear indication on what the future holds for the Arecibo telescope, however it is interesting to explore alternative ways to feed the Arecibo spherical reflector if it is to be rebuilt in the future. In this paper, two alternative options of feeding the reflector are introduced. Both methods are modeled in the electromagnetic modeling software FEKO which utilized numerical methods to approximate the solution. The methods introduced are just preliminary results of simple concepts that could be built and put up in a quick manner to potentially get the Arecibo radio telescope running again. The goal is not to compete with the old linefeed but rather to come close to its overall results in a simpler manner.
AB - The Arecibo Observatory 1000 ft spherical dish has been used for many years for astronomy, planetary radar, atmospheric radar, and other research. However due to unfortunate and unforeseen events, the usage of such a monumental research instrument came to a halt as the whole feeding mechanism fell in December of 2020. The old feeding mechanism consisted of a Gregorian dome and a linefeed. Even though the original feed worked wonderfully for many years, it had its issues, it was incredibly heavy and especially hard to maintain. While there is currently no clear indication on what the future holds for the Arecibo telescope, however it is interesting to explore alternative ways to feed the Arecibo spherical reflector if it is to be rebuilt in the future. In this paper, two alternative options of feeding the reflector are introduced. Both methods are modeled in the electromagnetic modeling software FEKO which utilized numerical methods to approximate the solution. The methods introduced are just preliminary results of simple concepts that could be built and put up in a quick manner to potentially get the Arecibo radio telescope running again. The goal is not to compete with the old linefeed but rather to come close to its overall results in a simpler manner.
KW - Circle of Least Confusion
KW - Gregorian sub-reflector
KW - numerical methods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139783510&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/AP-S/USNC-URSI47032.2022.9886360
DO - 10.1109/AP-S/USNC-URSI47032.2022.9886360
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85139783510
T3 - 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, AP-S/URSI 2022 - Proceedings
SP - 583
EP - 584
BT - 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, AP-S/URSI 2022 - Proceedings
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting, AP-S/URSI 2022
Y2 - 10 July 2022 through 15 July 2022
ER -