The Synchronous Calibration Method for the RATAN-600 using Its Two Sectors

Abstract

A method of “self-calibration” of two sectors of the RATAN-600 radio telescope based on synchronous measurements of strong extragalactic sources, including variable ones, is proposed. The method gives refined corrections to the standard calibration of each of the telescope’s sector. It is based on the fact that ideal synchronous independent measurements of the same object should give the same results. Differences from the unity of the result of approximating the flux ratio synchronously measured at two sectors for a subsample of strong sources are considered as systematic calibration errors and used to calculate corrections that exclude these errors, and are applied to measurements of all sample objects in this observation cycle. The method was tested with RATAN-600 two sectors in meridian multifrequency measurements and can be used for independent pairs of any closely spaced antennas. In this case, the analog of RATAN-600 sector is a separate telescope. For far-spaced antennas, an additional error will be introduced due to different effects of the atmosphere and altitude of objects during synchronous observations.