Measurements of stray antenna capacitance in the STEREO/WAVES instrument: Comparison of the radio frequency voltage spectrum with models of the galactic nonthermal continuum spectrum

• Published in: Radio science Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. RS4012 - n/a
• Main Authors: Eastwood, J. P., Bale, S. D., Maksimovic, M., Zouganelis, I., Goetz, K., Kaiser, M. L., Bougeret, J.-L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 01.08.2009; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: absolute solar radio flux; Antennas; Astrophysics; Electromagnetics; Instruments and techniques; low-frequency radio telescope; Physics; Plasma Physics; Radio astronomy; Radio emissions; Radio Science; Solar Physics, Astrophysics, and Astronomy; STEREO; absolute solar radio flux; low-frequency radio telescope; STEREO
• ISSN: 0048-6604; 1944-799X
• DOI: 10.1029/2009RS004146

The STEREO/WAVES instrument is designed to measure interplanetary radio emission and in situ plasma waves in the solar wind. The instrument uses three orthogonal monopole electric antennas as its sensor system in both a pseudodipole and monopole mode. At high radio frequencies, the capacitance of the antennas determines the system gain. Here we estimate the stray capacitance in the antenna system by comparing the measured voltage spectrum with a model of the galactic continuum spectrum, which is the instrument background at high frequencies. Together with the antenna free‐space capacitance, these measurements provide an absolute calibration of the STEREO/WAVES experiment at radio frequencies, a prerequisite for quantitative studies of solar and astrophysical radio emission.