Welcome!

The historic McMath-Hulbert Solar Observatory is located near Lake Angelus, MI. Projects are under way to continue the facility's rich history of science and education.

New Photos from the Observatory

MHO volunteer Matthew Visnaw captured some recent images at the observatory. View the gallery here.

Outstanding MHO Volunteer Dave Benham Dies at Age 66

Dave was an active volunteer at MHO and he and his talents will be missed. His work on the SuperSID project of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) helped add to the scientific legacy of the observatory. Dave was on the Board of Directors of SARA also. He is remembered for being an enthusiastic mentor to many DIYers from places as far as Uruguay. He also shared his knowledge and experience freely with anyone who sought his help and expertise in radio astronomy.

Pat Seitzer recalls, "I had dinner with a South African friend who was putting a SID setup together in Johannesburg. He had some questions, so I suggested he email Dave. Turned out he already had and Dave was most helpful. It really is a small world. My friend was very impressed with Dave's knowledge and willingness to help."

Being an avid ham radio operator, Dave was a member of the Hazel Park (MI) Amateur Radio Club. He also was a member of the University Low Brow Astronomers club at the University of Michigan. Earlier in life he obtained his Master’s Degree in Counseling & Guidance from Michigan State University. He served at Chrysler for 20 years as a Supplier Quality Specialist. His survivors include his wife of 41 years, Joanne, son David R. Benham Jr., and daughter-in-law, Anne Marie.

Auroras in Michigan

An intense geomagnetic storm brought some bright auroras to local observers. This followed an impact by a coronal mass ejection (CME) around 2:00 pm EDT on October 24th, 2011. Watch the video from.an observer in Martin, MI.

Observatory Volunteers Attend 2011 SARA Conference
by Dave Benham

Tom Hagen, Lee DePriest and Dave Benham recently attended the 2011 Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers conference at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) site at Green Bank, West Virginia. They gave a presentation on VLF noise reduction that was well received by the attendees.

Tom won a door prize to go to the top of the GBT (the Great Big Telescope). Dave was elected to the board as a director and acted as interim secretary for the annual board meeting at the conference. The president of SARA also presented Dave with a certificate of appreciation for outstanding efforts as SuperSID Mentor 2010-2011. See more info and pictures on the MHO blog.

Upcoming Radio Astronomy Project

Observatory volunteers are looking forward to starting a new project developed by longtime SARA member Kerry Smith. It's known as the IBT (Itty Bitty Telescope) and is typically made from an old satellite dish (the small DirecTV types). It can be used to demonstrate radiation from the sun, the moon, trees, human bodies, the ground, etc. You use a particular satellite level meter (the devices used to aim your dish) with some modifications. As the project progresses results will posted here and on the MHO blog.

Recent Radio and Radio Astronomy Projects
by Dave Benham

Tom Hagen and I have been working with LF, VLF and ELF-ULF for the past year. Imagine our surprise when we learned that some of this activity qualifies as radio astronomy! Here’s what we’ve been doing:

To begin with, what are LF, VLF AND ELF-ULF? Quite simply, they are descriptors for ranges of radio frequencies. See the table below.

Designation	Frequency	Wavelength
ELF (extremely low freq)	3Hz to 30Hz	100,000km to 10,000 km
SLF (superlow frequency)	30Hz to 300Hz	10,000km to 1,000km
ULF (ultralow frequency)	300Hz to 3000Hz	1,000km to 100km
VLF (very low frequency)	3kHz to 30kHz	100km to 10km
LF (low frequency)	30kHz to 300kHz	10km to 1km
MF (medium frequency)	300kHz to 3000kHz	1km to 100m
HF (high frequency)	3MHz to 30MHz	100m to 10m
VHF (very high frequency)	30MHz to 300MHz	10m to 1m
UHF (ultrahigh frequency)	300MHz to 3000MHz	1m to 10cm
SHF (superhigh frequency)	3GHz to 30GHz	10cm to 1cm
EHF (extremely high freq)	30GHz to 300GHz	1cm to 1mm

As a frame of reference, all the activities discussed here occur below the frequency of the AM broadcast band.

On LF, we were using a Rycom 6040 “selective level voltmeter” (i.e., receiver) to receive NDBs, non-directional beacons used for navigation at airports around North America in the general frequency range of 190 KHz to 530 KHz. We built various tunable loops for antennas. They are built to a certain number of turns, with equal wire spacing, and tuned with variable capacitors. In the end, the best overall antenna was a commercially built Palomar wirewound ferrite rod loop. It’s tunable, directional and mounted on a gimbal mount which can help in eliminating ambient electrically generated noise. Surprisingly, we heard stations with as little as 25 watts output from British Columbia to Central America, to above the Arctic Circle (see Fig. 1 for a map of stations heard). Although this activity is not directly related to astronomy, it served to give us experience with our loop antenna builds and receiving equipment. Read more...

Figure 1: LF Non-Directional Beacons

Observe the Earth with online maps and satellite imagery

Check these links for a great view of McMath-Hulbert Observatory.

Lake Angelus Map - Virtual Earth
McMath-Hulbert Observatory - ZOOM-IN with Virtual Earth!
McMath-Hulbert Observatory - ZOOM-IN with Google Maps!