Brief description
This data set consists of polarisation calibration solutions for radio pulsar instrumentation in common use at the Parkes Observatory. The data have been and continue to be collected as part of the High-precision Pulsar Timing at Parkes (P140), Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (P456), and Commissioning the Pulsar Backends at Parkes (P737) observing projects.
Full description
Approximately monthly observations of the closest and brightest millisecond pulsar (PSR J0437-4715) are used to derive the full (Jones matrix) representation of the instrumental response with a frequency resolution between 500 kHz and 1 MHz.
Currently available solutions span radio frequencies from 1309 to 1437 MHz (from 2003 April to 2010 June) and from 1210 to 1520 MHz (from 2010 June to present). Other frequency ranges will be made available as development continues. The calibration data are stored using the PSRFITS file format, which is fully compliant with the Flexible Image Transport System endorsed by NASA and the IAU and compatible with the recommendations of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance.
The data files can be parsed and utilised by PSRCHIVE to calibrate pulsar observations made with the same instrumental configuration. The DSPSR software can also use these calibrator solutions to perform phase-coherent matrix convolution on baseband signals recorded by these instruments. Both PSRCHIVE and DSPSR are open source projects licensed under the Academic Free License version 2.1 and freely available for download from SourceForge.
Available: April 2003
Data time period: April 2003
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