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Bleien Solar Radio Data

A legacy of ETH Zurich, operated by FHNW Windisch


The Institute for Astronomy at ETH Zurich has been operating the Bleien Radio Observatory since 1979. Various antennas and spectrometers have been in operation and still are today. In 2010 heliophysics moved to the Institute of 4D Technologies at Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) in Windisch, Switzerland, where a new group is being built up. FHNW is now responsible for archiving all solar data and manages the analysis software. This site provides access to all digitally available data.

Data Access

Quicklooks

2002 - today
quicklooks of radio flares from observations with the spectrometers Phoenix-3, Phoenix-4, and e-Callisto (including data in fits format) in various frequency ranges between 10 and 5000 MHz

1998-2009
daily overviews of solar radio emission from 100 to 4000 MHz observed with the spectrometer Phoenix-2

Data archives

2002 - today
flare observations observed with the spectrometers Phoenix-3, Phoenix-4 and e-Callisto in various frequency ranges between 20 and 5000 MHz

1998-2009
flare observations with the spectrometer Phoenix-2 in the frequency range 100 - 4000 MHz

1978-1994
flare observations with the spectrometers Ikarus (100 - 1000 MHz) and Phoenix (100 - 3000 MHz)


Bursts
List of Bursts made by Andreas Wassmer Bursts

Ancillary data

- Bleien Observatory log books1997-20yy contain information on all visits of engineers nd observers to the Observatory, including instrument conditions, maintenance, and technical improvements.
- Environmental data 1998-20yy png and raw data
- Google map link to Bleien observatory

Event lists

1972-1992
List of radio bursts observed with the spectrometer Daedalus in the range 100 - 1000 MHz (A. O. Benz)

1998-2010
List of radio bursts observed with the spectrometers Phoenix-2 and Phoenix-3 in the range 100 - 3000 GHz, bzw 100 - 5000 GHz (A.O. Benz)

2010 - 2011
List of radio bursts observed with the spectrometers Phoenix-3 and e-Callisto (C. Monstein)

The Bleien burst lists were included in the NOAA Geophysical Data Reports in the years 1974 - 2009.

Analysis Tools

There is an IDL package in the Solar Soft software system dedicated to the data analysis of Bleien radio data (run "ssw_update, /eth" to get it). It is used from the command line. A description for startup and use is available (A. Csillaghy). For windows users a GUI is available (add "fhnw" to the instruments in your startup file). Its name is "rappview" and a short documentation is available. It is recommended for data editing, professional analysis and publication. The direct access of the archive with the GUI is currently not working. Thus the data (fits file) must be downloaded before analysis with rappview.

Several generations of Java viewers are available (P. Messmer) for download. We recommend viewer1_04delta.jar for Phoenix-2 , and jv_20070109.jar for Phoenix-3 and e-Callisto data. The Java viewer is fast and easy to install. It is useful for a quick look, but not ideal for data analysis and publication.

Highlights and History

- Science Highlights 1979-2011
- Science Publications 1971-2011
- History of Radio Astronomy at ETH Zurich

Documentation

- Definition of file names for all generations of spectrographs at Bleien Observatory
- Description and first results of Daedalus (pdf 259'754 Byte)
- Description and first results of Ikarus (pdf 451'133 Byte)
- Description and first results of Phoenix (SAO/NASA ADS)
- Description and first results of Phoenix-2 (pdf 600'402 Byte)
- Description and first results of Phoenix-3 (SAO/NASA ADS),  technical report (pdf 1'520'716 Byte)
- Description and first results of Callisto and e-Callisto. The latter document can also be downloaded from here.
- General documentation about e-Callisto and the International Network of Solar Radio Spectrometers

Current Instrument Status

- Bleien 5m and 7m telescope (Phoenix-3, CALLISTO)

Outreach

- Solar bursts in an acoustic presentation (P. Messmer 1999)
- Pretty pictures (Bleien observatory, instruments, spectra etc.)
- antenna 24h movie
- Blog about e-Callisto network


Responsible:
Web service: support.cs.technik(at)fhnw.ch
e-Callisto and Phoenix-3: Christian Monstein monstein(at)astro.phys.ethz.ch, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Science use: Arnold O. Benz arnold.benz(at)fhnw.ch, FHNW, Switzerland
Version: 2014/01/28, updated: 2019/10/31, 2021/07/29