My very first astro code!
Having just finished my first computing course in Fall 2021 CPSC:103 Systematic Program Design I intended to put my new skills in programming to astronomical data.
Using previously data collected from the open source radio telescope PICTOR (https://pictortelescope.com/) based in Athens, Greece I computed the dopler shift for hydrogen clouds in the constellation of Cygnus. The radio telescope was pointed at zenith and specifically at a galactic long./lat. of 72 degrees 15 minutes/ 6 degrees 55 minutes although the PICTOR telescope has a field of view of approximately 9 degrees and would include most of the Cygnus constellation.
After submitting the observation request I received the following email.
Your observation has been carried out by PICTOR successfully! Observation name: Short Duration Observation 3 Observation datetime: 2021-10-06 20:07:34 (UTC+3) Center frequency: 1420000000.0 Hz Bandwidth: 1000000 Hz Sample rate: 1000000 samples/sec Number of channels: 2048 Number of bins: 100 Observation duration: 60 sec Observation ID: 99775993
And was sent the following graphs, analysis, and a csv file of the data recorded.
Using some simple import csv code, astropy, and matplotlib packages. I emulated the above frequency graphic and printed the following.
Using the dopler shift formula Velocity = (c*rest frequency/shifted freqency)-c where c is 3e+8 m/s I calculated that the hydrogen clouds were moving towards observatory at approximately 86 km/s due to wavelength being blueshifted.