Hillsdale College Students, Faculty Build Radio Telescope Array On Campus
Telescope joins national network and offers unique opportunity to astrophysics students
Hillsdale, Mich. – Hillsdale College recently completed the Low-Frequency All-Sky Monitor, a radio telescope array funded by the Hillsdale College science division. It is designed to record astrophysical activity through communication with a network of four other telescopes across the country.
Completed over the 2018 summer term and fall semester, the telescope is a collaboration between Timothy Dolch, assistant professor of physics, and six Hillsdale students: senior Jay Rose; sophomores Philip Andrews, Nathaniel Birzer, Sashabaw Niedbalski and Caleb Ramette; and freshman Alex Dulemba. The summer students were funded through the College’s LAUREATES internship program, which provides select students with research funding.
“For me, it’s been a privilege to work with this team of exceptional physics students,” said Dr. Dolch. “None of this could have happened without them. Their hard work will pay off for years to come, both from the research itself and from the learning opportunities the telescope gives our students. The fields of physics, astronomy, computer science and electrical engineering all come together in this project.”
The array works in tandem with four similar stations, located in West Virginia, New Mexico, Texas and California, to corroborate the significance of any signals it detects. After its completion, the Hillsdale College physics department hosted Teviet Creighton and graduate students from the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) at a workshop with the telescope and held two seminars for the Hillsdale College community. The UTRGV team developed the other four stations that comprise the Low-Frequency All-Sky Monitor.