How to Observe Radio Pulsars
using
The Arecibo Radio Telescope
a short manual

Step 1: Point the telescope at the pulsar you want to observe by moving the Gregorian to the desired position...

If everything else fails, try a small manual adjustment...

Step 2: Then check under the telscope if everything is OK... Doesn't help much, but also doesn't hurt to do that...

...then check under the telescope if everything is where it should be ...

Step 3: Check if the whole machinery is still up there. That is an important step...

... and check above if the whole machinery is still there. Now go back to the Control Room and press Start.

Step 4: And go to the Control Room to press Start. Looks like a pulsar is there - everybody is happy...

....and now everybody is happy - there it is! Click here to see some first results

Step 5: The wizards are waiting to grab the data for processing...

Another observing session - November 1, Halloween Night, 2000

Step 6: After the observations are finished, it's good to check how the telescope survived all this...

The telescope survived in good shape our Halloween observing session. Some results will be here soon (let's hope...)

Step 7: ... and ask three witches to perform the first step in data processing - removing from the signal effects introduced by the interstellar medium. It is important to chose the right witches...

First step of data processing - three witches remove effects introduced by the interstellar medium...