Tools of radio astronomy

The first part of this book gives a complete introduction to the instrumentation and techniques needed for radio-astronomical research. After a thorough survey of electromagnetic wave propagation, antenna theory and the design of receivers are dealt with. Radiation mechanisms relevant to radio astronomy are the subject of the second part of the book. Discussions of the 21cm line of hydrogen, the recombination lines, and the emission from interstellar molecules illuminate those tools of radio astronomy which allow the derivation of the physical parameters of interstellar medium.