The Green Bank Solar Radio Burst Spectrometer is currently in its
third year of operation, having been deployed in January of 2004 to
remedy the lack of ground-based radio spectroscopy research stations in the
Western hemisphere. Since its inception, GBSRBS has been providing
this needed service by monitoring the Sun daily from 12-24 UT (7 AM -
7 PM EST). During that time, the instrument has not only proven
itself reliable, but also an important tool for discovery; on November
14, 2005 it detected the highest
frequency Type II burst ever recorded, casting into serious doubt
one of the two popular explanations concerning the driving force for this type of burst event.
The development of an instrument such as GBSRBS presents a significant
challenge to the instrumentalist, as many of the events of interest occur over
a relatively short time period (minutes or tens of minutes) yet span a
broad frequency range (a few MHz to a few GHz). GBSRBS lives up to the
challenge, achieving both superb time and frequency resolution and
excellent broadband frequency coverage. The demand for the latter is a popular one of late, taking top
priority in the development of the next generation Solar
observatory FASR. GBSRBS achieves its broad
frequency coverage by dividing the band of interest into three parts, each
accompanied by its own swept-frequency receiving system. Taken
collectively, the instrument provides a discerning eye on the Sun from decimeter
to decameter wavelengths!
Currently, an archive of the low frequency data may be accessed on the web for educational purposes. Real-time spectra will be made available on the web in the near future.
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