Anomalous Night-Time Reception of a Major Solar Radio Burst

Abstract

DURING the early morning hours of March 8, 1958, the planet Jupiter was under observation by a total of five different receiving arrays at the University of Florida Radio Observatory. Two of these arrays operated at a frequency of 18 Mc./s., two at 22.2 Mc./s., and one at 27.6 Mc./s. Both pen recording and aural monitoring of the signals by an observer were employed. At 0235 U.T. an unusual event began simultaneously on all five channels, consisting of a single very intense burst of noise which slowly rose to a maximum, and even more slowly declined over a total period of about 2 min. During this interval the observer was able to obtain an excellent record of the polarization of the disturbance with the 22.2 Mc./s. polarimeter, which was kept in stand-by condition during all periods of observation.