Table of Contents

Radio Astronomical Fundamentals.- ElectromagneticWave Propagation Fundamentals.- Wave Polarization.- Signal Processing and Receivers: Theory.- Practical Receiver Systems.- Fundamentals of Antenna Theory.- Practical Aspects of Filled Aperture Antennas.- Single Dish Observational Methods.- Interferometers and Aperture Synthesis.- Emission Mechanisms of Continuous Radiation.- Some Examples of Thermal and Nonthermal Radio Sources.- Spectral Line Fundamentals.- Line Radiation from Atoms.- Radio Recombination Lines.- Overview of Molecular Basics.- Molecules in Interstellar Space.- Some Useful Vector Relations & Fourier Transforms.- The Van Vleck Clipping Correction: One Bit Quantization.- Conventional Derivation of Square Law Detector Response & Receiver Noise.- The Reciprocity Theorem.- Filled Aperture Antennas.- The Hankel Transform.- Lists of Calibration Radio Sources.- The Mutual Coherence Function and van Cittert-Zernike Theorem.-Bibliography.- Index.

About the Author

Thomas Wilson graduated with a BS in Physics from St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia and went on to study under B. F. Burke at MIT for his doctoral work in physics, which focused on 'Radio Studies of HII Regions.' After graduating from MIT, Wilson was a post-doctoral fellow at the NRAO in Charlottesville. Afterward Wilson was on staff at Max-Planck-Inst. f. Radioastronomy from 1969-2004, then Project Scientist (2004-6), Associate Director (2006-8) and at European Southern Observatory, Director of the Sub-mm Telescope Observatory (1997-2002), and subsequently Senior Scientist at ALMA (Atacama Large Mm/sub-mm Array) (Feb 2009 to March 2010). As of April 2010, he is the Branch Head at the Naval Research Laboratory.

Kristen Rohlfs studied Astronomy and Physics and received a PhD in 1961 in Hamburg. After his postdoctoral lecture qualification in 1965 he worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for Radioastronomy in Bonn. Starting in 1974 he taught at the Astronomy Institute Ruhr of University Bochum and is now emeritus professor.

Susanne Hüttemeister received a Ph.D. in Astronomy by the Bonn University. She had a position as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge (USA) and teaching assignments at RWTH Aachen (Aachen Technical University) and Bonn University. Dr. Hüttemeister is now the Director of Bochum Planetarium and Adjunct Professor at the Astronomy Institute of Ruhr University Bochum.

Reviews

Aus den Rezensionen zur 6.Auflage: "... Studenten und Absolventen einschlagiger Fachrichtungen ist das Buch auch fur Quereinsteiger und Amateure geeignet, die ernsthaft in dieses Fachgebiet eindringen wollen." (in: Funkamateur, Heft 5, 2014)