2022

Observations in 2022

The year 2022 stated with an upgrade of the receiver. We received a generous donation of two excellent low noise amplifiers from the California Institute of Technology which substantially improved our sensitivity. At the same time, we made some changes in the RF chain which will facilitate further enhancements going forward.

After completion of the upgrade the main focus was the observation of the FRB20201124A which underwent another activity period. Many of these observations were coordinated with other telescopes in Westerbork (The Netherlands), Onsala (Sweden) and Torun (Poland).

A further Fast Radio Burst, FRB20220912A could be observed in autumn. This was after the CHIME telescope in Canada reported enhanced activity from this source. We were the first telescope to confirm emission from this source, which led to the publication of an Astronomers Telegram: https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=15691. Subsequent observation followed which were then coordinated with our cooperation partners. This led to subsequent Astronomers Telegrams: https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=15727 and https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=15817.

Besides the observation of Fast Radio Bursts we continued our long term monitoring of OH masers.

2021

Observations in 2021

An extremely bright pulse from FRB20201124A was detected on April 15^th at 12:23:19.369 UTC. This pulse had a fluence of 334 Jy ms (+/- 10%) and a peak flux density of 215 Jy (+/- 10%) giving an excellent S/N of 85. The full width half maximum of the pulse was 1.5 ms (+/- 0.2 ms) and the DM was determined to be 412.8 (+/- 0.2) pc/cm^3. We believe this is the pulse with the highest fluence detected from this source so far.

Below you will find the dynamic spectrum from this observation, the spectral resolution is 583 kHz/channel.

2019

Observation Programs in 2019

The Magnetar XTE J1810-197 became „radio-bright” again after 11 years of silence. We are observing the further evolution of this exotic object by regularly and frequently measuring it.

Furthermore, we are continuously monitoring the intensity of a number of circumstellar OH masers. The program is a collaboration with the universities of Hamburg and Manchester. Results are presented on the website https://hsweb.hs.uni-hamburg.de/projects/nrt_monitoring/stockert.html.

Pulsars are one of our favorite objects. We are expanding the list of pulsars visible to us. This list has grown to more than 125 by mid of 2019. Also, we have a specific program devoted to the crab pulsar. This pulsar emits so called giant pulses, and we are generating a statistic of these pulses based on a large number of observations over a longer time period.

Fast Radio Bursts are single flashes of radio emission which seem to come from cosmological distances. The origin of the bursts is unknown and further data is required to unveil this secret. We are trying to use telescope time which is unused to look for such events. For two of such Fast Radio Bursts it has been observed that they repeat. Here we try to observe more of such repeating events.

2018

First scientific publication since the recomissioning

For the first time since the recommissioning of Astropeiler Stockert a scientific publication has used measurements obtained at “our” telescope. This is the result of a collaboration with the researchers in Effelsberg.

L. Spitler, W. Herrmann et. al. , The Astrophysics Journal, Vol. 863, No.2
Preprint: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1807.03722.pdf

Masers

In collaboration with researchers from the universities Hamburg and Manchester, we observed so-called circumstellar masers. These are formed around high-mass stars which are very active in the infrared. These stars exhibit a variability that is reflected in the maser intensity. Observing these masers provides insights into stellar activity and development.

2016/2017

A series of reports on various observation activities are written in English under the title “The Astropeiler Stockert Story” (PDFs).

Part 1: Overview of the 25m Dish
Part 2: Continuum Observations with the 25m Dish
Part 3: Spectral Observations: Neutral Hydrogen Observations with the 25m Dish in the Milky Way
Part 4: Spectral Observations: Radio Recombination Lines
Part 5: Spectral Observations: Hydroxyl (OH) Masers and Absorption
Part 6: Spectral Observations: Extragalactic Sources
Part 7: Pulsar Observations

2015

Summary of Pulsar Observations, Updated Version, May 2015

A summary of pulsar observations can be found here.

2014

Summary of Pulsar Observations

A summary of pulsar observations can be found here.

2013

Stockert Operations 2013

The third astronomical operations report gives an overview of further developments during 2013.

Observation of Giant Pulses

Various pulsar observations were carried out at Stockert last year. These data have now been re-analyzed as part of a search for giant pulses. It turns out that the instrumentation of the 25-meter telescope is capable of recording giant pulses. The publication “Notice from operations: Observation of Giant Pulses from the Crab (0531+21), 1133+16 and 0950+08 Pulsars” describes the detection of giant pulses in the data collected by us, as well as the adaptation of the pulsar software.

2011

The First Year after “First Light” – Report on Astronomical Observations in 2011

This report provides an overview of the measurements taken in 2011, which was the first year we could conduct astronomical observations with the 25-meter telescope after many years of preparation and following its reactivation.