Project - BSA LPI

PRAO Radiotelescopes

The search for pulsars and transients, as well as their research within the framework of the BSA-Analytics project, are based on the results of monitoring observations at the antenna of the Large Phased Array (LPA). LPA is located in Pushchino of Moscow region at the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory of the Astro Space Center of Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PRAO ASC LPI).

LPA is the world's largest array in the meter wavelength range.range. Its name stands for Large Phased Array.
There are two ways of translating it in the scientific literature:

The name BSA is not quite true, but it's convenient, because its abbreviation matches the Russian version.
The name LPA is more correct because it reflects the essence of the antennatenna: this is an antenna array that collects the signal in phase.

There are three radio telescopes at the Pushchino Observatory:

Radio telescopes of the Pushchino Observatory. Video shooting from a quadcopter Wind of Eternity

 

 
Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory A particle of the ashes of the founder of radio astronomy, Grote Reber, is buried in the wall of the observatory.
 
 
The main entrance to the observatory LPA - Large Phased Array
 
 
DKR-1000 - Wide-Band Cross-type Radio Telescope   RT-22 - Radio Telescope with a bowl diameter of 22 m

 

Large Phased Array

The LPA was built in 1974. It consists of 16 384 wave dipoles and covers an area of more than 7 hectares. Initially, the central receiving frequency of the antenna was 102.5 MHz, and the effective area was 20 000 - 25 000 m². After the government sold the LPA's frequency range to commercial entities in the 90s, the antenna was upgraded. The central reception frequency has become 110.25 MHz. At the same time, the effective area decreased to 10 000 - 15 000 m². In 2009, the observatory received a grant under the Space Weather program. He made it possible to significantly upgrade the antenna. The main stage of modernization took place in 2010-2012. The cable system was rearranged, digital receivers were created, and the Butler matrices were replaced. New amplifiers with one input and four independent outputs were supplied. This made it possible to create four independent radio telescopes based on a single antenna of the BSA FIAN.

LPA-1 Radio Telescope

LPA-1 is an upgraded version of the antenna for pulsar observations.

Monitoring observations at LPA-1:

LPA-2 Radio Telescope

LPA-2 is an old version of the radio telescope, it was turned off as soon as LPA-1 was launched.

In this variant, the antenna had 512 beams, formally overlapping declinations from about -28o to +88o. A digital pulsar receiver could connect to any of these beams. In reality, declinations from -5about to about +75about were used, because below -5about there was high interference and small effective area, and above +75about It took a lot of time to observe the source.

LPA-3 Radio Telescope

LPA-3 is a multipath radio telescope for monitoring programs.

Monitoring observations at LPA-3 - «short data»:

Monitoring observations at LPA-3 - «long data»:

LPA-4 Radio Telescope

LPA-4 is a test system designed to test the operability of individual antenna parts.