Solar research
In Metsähovi we monitor the Sun's activity with several radio telescopes and antennas. We aim to have daily solar maps at 37 GHz using the 14-metre radio telescope in order to track the development of active areas on the Sun. During the summer time (April-September) the large radio telescope is used more extensively for solar observations: for example, we can follow a single radio brightening for several hours, or coordinate multifrequency sessions with other instruments.
Our 1.8-metre radio telescope SunAnt is dedicated to follow the Sun throughout the day, every day, continuously recording the total intensity at 11.2 GHz. The smaller radio telescope is especially suited for investigating solar radio burst features. Metsähovi belongs to the international e-Callisto network which aims at observing solar radio bursts at a broad frequency range at several locations around the world simultaneously. Several Callisto antennas measure broadband solar radio bursts at meter and decimeter ranges, 16-850 MHz.
During the summer time, due to the Northern location of Metsähovi, we are able to do even 14-hour continuous solar observations. This ability is remarkable and brings a peculiar twist to our observations. The long time series measured at Metsähovi (since 1978) enables studying long term alterations (so-called cyclicity studies) in the Sun, for example, by investigating solar radio brightenings. Long measurements observed during a single day can be used for studying short term changes (so-called oscillation studies) in different structures (for example, radio brightenings and polar region brightenings). In addition, the versatile radio burst data is analyzed for single bursts and for statistical reasons.
- The solar radio data are open and available for any use; they can be downloaded via the Fairdata service provided by CSC – Finnish IT center for science, and the Ministry of Education and Culture. For more information, see our Open Data page.
- You can also browse the available data plots on our Solar data browser.
- You can also find all solar maps in the Solar gallery
- The latest Callisto observations (search for MRO)
- Automatically made summaries of daily events is available here.
For data requests etc., please contact [email protected].
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