ASSA Radio Astronomy Group

Using a method called “Meridian Drift Scan Observation” it is possible to build up an image of the sky at radio frequency not visible using optical telescopes.

Drift scans plot the sky line by line using the earths rotation from East to West then adjusting the antenna every 24 hours over a series of elevations separated by somewhat less than the angular beamwidth of your antenna. If you had a beamwidth of say 10 degrees, you would then lower the elevation by about five to seven degrees and making a strip chart for that elevation. You would continue the process until the beam was point a bit above your horizon and then combine the data to make a 2 dimensional map of the sky. In reality, there is quite a bit more to do this, but this is the basic Idea.