A prototype radio interferometer system with commercial dish TV antennas for observations of the solar chromospheric magnetic field

Abstract

We are exploring the possibility of carrying out radio interferometric observations of the solar chromosphere at ≈ 11.2 GHz (λ=2.68 cm), in both total intensity (Stokes-I) and circularly polarized intensity (Stokes-V), using low-cost commercial dish TV antennas. Here, we present our initial results on the magnetic field strength (B) estimated using data obtained with a prototype set-up, and compare them with similar observations.