Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage Issn 1440-2807
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JOURNAL OF ASTRONOMICAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE ISSN 1440-2807 EDITOR Professor Wayne ORCHISTON (Thailand) ASSOCIATE EDITORS Professor Richard G. STROM (Netherlands) Professor Joseph S. TENN (USA) EDITORIAL BOARD Dr David ANDREWS (England) Professor Rajesh KOCHHAR (India) Dr Alan BATTEN (Canada) Professor LIU Ciyuan (China) Dr Allan CHAPMAN (England) Professor Tsuko NAKAMURA (Japan) Dr Suzanne DÉBARBAT (France) Professor NHA Il-Seong (Korea) Dr Wolfgang DICK (Germany) Professor F. Richard STEPHENSON (England) Dr Steven DICK (USA) Professor Brian WARNER (South Africa) Professor Bambang HIDAYAT (Indonesia) The Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (JAHH) was founded in 1998, and since 2007 has been produced three times yearly, now in March/April, July/August and November/December. It features review papers, research papers, short communications, correspondence, IAU reports and book reviews. Papers on all aspects of astronomical history are considered, including studies that place the evolution of astronomy in political, economic and cultural contexts. Papers on astronomical heritage may deal with historic telescopes and observatories, conservation projects (including the conversion of historic observatories into museums of astronomy), and historical or industrial archaeological investigations of astronomical sites and buildings. All papers are refereed prior to publication. There are no page charges, and in lieu of reprints authors are sent a pdf or Word camera-ready version of their paper so that they can generate their own reprints on demand. Prospective authors may download the ‘Guide for Authors’ from http://www.narit.or.th/en/files/GuideforAuthors.pdf or request it from Professor Wayne Orchiston (wayne. [email protected]). Intending contributors should carefully follow these guidelines when preparing manuscripts. Papers and book reviews should be e-mailed to Professor Orchiston, or posted to him at: National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand 191 Huay Kaew Road Suthep District Muang Chiang Mai 50200 Thailand Enquiries concerning review copies of books, advertising space, and back numbers of the Journal also should be directed to Professor Orchiston. The JAHH is now an electronic journal. All content back to Vol. 1 may be downloaded free of charge from either the Journal’s web site at http://www.narit.or.th/en/index.php/jahh or the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System site (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph- toc_query?db_key=AST&journal=jahh) and its 12 mirror sites around the world. The electronic version of the journal will continue to be produced three times a year (nominally in March, July and November) and posted on both sites. Those who wish a hard copy may print it out or have it done by their local printers. For this reason a single pdf of each entire issue is available on the site at NARIT. © National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand. The views and opinions expressed in this Journal are not necessarily those of the Institute, the Editors or the Editorial Board. COVER IMAGE A sketch by Akira Sato showing the rhombic antenna of the 100–140 MHz dynamic spectrograph (on the tower above and slightly left of the artist’s signature) and the 10-m parabolic antenna. In the background, and to the left of the parabolic antenna, is the TAO’s distinctive ‘Einstein Tower’ solar telescope. This image appears in the third article in the series, Highlighting the history of Japanese radio astronomy, by Kenji Akabane, et al., which starts on page 2 of this issue (courtesy: NAOJ Archives) JOURNAL OF ASTRONOMICAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE ISSN 1440-2807 VOLUME 17 NUMBER 1 MARCH/APRIL 2014 CONTENTS Page Papers Highlighting the history of Japanese radio astronomy. 3: Early solar radio research at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory 2 Hiroshi Nakajima, Masato Ishiguro, Wayne Orchiston, Kenji Akabane, Shinzo Enome, Masa Hayashi, Norio Kaifu, Tsuko Nakamura and Atsushi Tsuchiya Ancient astronomical culture in Ukraine. 1: Finds relating to the Paleolithic Era 29 Irina B. Vavilova and Tetyana G. Artemenko The beginnings of modern astronomy at the University of St Andrews 39 Alan H. Batten Twenty-five years of helioseismology research in Uzbekistan 45 Sh. A. Ehgamberdiev, E. Fossat and A.V. Serebryanskiy The astronomy of two Indian tribes: the Banjaras and the Kolams 65 M.N. Vahia, Ganesh Halkare, Kishore Menon and Harini Calamur The 1761 discovery of Venus’ atmosphere: Lomonosov and others 85 Vladimir Shiltsev Indian astronomy and the transits of Venus. 2: The 1874 event 113 R.C. Kapoor Book Reviews L’Observatoire de Paris: 350 Ans de Science, edited by Laurence Bobis and James Lequeux 136 William Tobin Published by the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, 191 Huay Kaew Road, Suthep DistrIct, Muang, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 17(1), 2-28 (2014). HIGHLIGHTING THE HISTORY OF JAPANESE RADIO ASTRONOMY. 3: EARLY SOLAR RADIO RESEARCH AT THE TOKYO ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY Hiroshi Nakajima Nobeyama Solar Radio Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Minamimaki, Minamisaku, Nagano 384-13, Japan. Email: [email protected] Masato Ishiguro National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan. Email: [email protected] Wayne Orchiston National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, 191 Huay Kaew Road, Suthep District, Muang, Chiang Mai 502000, Thailand. Email: [email protected] Kenji Akabane, Shinzo Enome†, Masa Hayashi, Norio Kaifu Tsuko Nakamura and Atsushi Tsuchiya† National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan. Abstract: The radio astronomy group at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory was founded in 1948 immediately after WWII, and decided to put its main research efforts into solar radio astronomy. The first radio telescope was completed in 1949 and started routine observations at 200 MHz. Since then, the group has placed its emphasis on observations at meter and decimeter wavelengths, and has constructed various kinds of radio telescopes and arrays operating at frequencies ranging from 60 to 800 MHz. In addition, radio telescopes operating at 3, 9.5 and 17 GMHz were constructed. In parallel with the observationally-based research, theoretical research on solar radio emission also was pursued. In this paper, we review the instrumental, observational and theoretical developments in solar radio astronomy at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory in the important period from 1949 through to the 1960s. Keywords: Japan, Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, solar radio astronomy, solar radio telescope, solar radio emission. 1 INTRODUCTION solar radio astronomy, which they believed would be more easily carried out than non-solar radio The first deliberate attempts by Japanese scien- astronomy. tists to detect radio emission from an extrater- restrial object can be traced back to the Tokyo In 1949, the first solar radio telescope at the observations at 3 GHz by Koichi Shimoda (b. TAO was constructed with help from the Radio 1920) of the partial solar eclipse on 9 May 1948 Research Laboratories of the Ministry of Posts and and observations of solar noise at 3.3 GHz by Telecommunications at Hiraiso, which already was Minoru Oda (1923–2001) and Tatsuo Takakura (b. deeply involved in research into the ionosphere 1925) in November 1949 from Osaka (see Ishiguro and had an excellent background in radio astro- et al., 2012; Ishiguro and Orchiston, 2014). How- nomical instrumentation and techniques. Since ever, these observations were experimental. In then, new radio telescopes for solar observations 1948, the radio astronomy group led by Professor at meter and decimeter waves were constructed Takeo Hatanaka (1914–1963; see Figure 1)1 was one after another at the TAO, as the staff there founded at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory developed their own technologies and ideas. As (henceforth TAO) at Mitaka, Tokyo, with strong a result, the TAO group was able to make im- support from the Director of the Observatory, Pro- portant contributions to solar observational radio fessor Yūsuke Hagiwara (1897–1979). Other mem- astronomy and theory. Hatanaka’s group, and the bers of the group were Fumio Moriyama (b. 1927) vibrant solar research group at the Toyokawa Ob- and Shigemasa Suzuki (1920–2012). At that time, servatory led by Haruo Tanaka from the Research the TAO did not have the electronics technology Institute of Atmospherics at Nagoya University, which was necessary to observe radio emission were to play a key role in researching solar radio from non-solar sources. In addition, the period emission during the 1950s and 1960s, and ensure after World War II was a very difficult one in which Japan’s international visibility in this area of astron- to get suitable equipment and stable power sup- omy. For Hiraiso, Tokyo, Toyokawa and other Jap- plies for radio telescopes. So Hatanaka’s group anese localities mentioned here and elsewhere in decided initially to put its main research efforts into this paper see Figure 2. Page 2 H. Nakajima, M. Ishiguro , W. Orchiston, K. Akabane et al. Early Solar Radio Astronomy at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory Figure 1: A meeting of the Japanese National Commission V of URSI held at the Toyokawa Observatory in 1954. Professor T. Hatanaka is the ‘larger than life’ figure on the extreme right, in the back row. Others from the TAO in this photograph are: K. Akabane (back row, second from the left), T. Takakura (back row, third from the left), S. Suzuki (beside Hatanaka), and TAO Director, Professor Y. Hagihara (front row, right) (adapted from Tanaka, 1984: 345). Figure 2: Japanese localities mentioned in the text. Key: 1 = Obihiro; 2 = Hiraiso; 3 = Akihabara, Tokyo; Tokyo Astronomical Observatory (Mitaka); Tokyo University; 4 = Nobeyama; 5 = Toyokawa Observatory; 6 = Nagoya; 7 = Osaka; 8 = Kagoshima. From the summer of 1960, the future plans in Preliminary observations for it started at Nobe- radio astronomy were discussed at the TAO. One yama in 1965, construction began in 1967 and this was to start non-solar radio astronomy.