Known issue

New system in testing phase. Please wait until telescope available (ETA May 2026).

Support & documentation

Contact

If you have any questions or run into problems, please first read the User's manual and experiment instructions below. If you still need help, contact us at salsa.onsala@gmail.com.

User's manual

The user's manual describes how to operate the SALSA telescope — scheduling observations, pointing, recording spectra, and downloading data.

Read the User's manual →

Experiments

Step-by-step lab guides covering the scientific background, observing procedure, and data analysis for each experiment.

Mapping the Milky Way with the 21 cm hydrogen line

Observe neutral hydrogen across the Milky Way, measure Doppler-shifted 21 cm emission, derive the rotation curve, and reconstruct the positions of the spiral arms.

GNSS satellite signal spectra

Receive and compare radio signals from GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and BeiDou satellites, and see how their different modulation schemes produce distinct spectral shapes.

Measuring the SALSA antenna beam

Use the Sun as a bright radio source to map the beam pattern of the SALSA antenna, measure its angular resolution, and compare the result to theoretical predictions for a circular aperture.

Publications

  • A popular science description of SALSA was published by Cathy Horellou and Daniel Johansson in the Swedish magazine Populär astronomi in 2008. PDF (in Swedish).
  • SALSA was mentioned in the article A Radio Astronomical Star Party for those "On The Verge", describing a star party in Onsala, Sweden in 2012. Published in CAPjournal (issue 13, 2013) by Eva Wirström and Robert Cumming. PDF.
  • Thomas Hobiger, Rüdiger Haas and Eskil Varenius describe using the two SALSA telescopes as an educational interferometer demonstrator in Hard and Software Tools for the Education of Geodetic VLBI, published in the IVS 2016 General Meeting Proceedings (NASA/CP-2016-219016, pp. 234–238). PDF.

Technical specifications

For hardware details — signal chain, rotor protocol, LNA measurements, and component references — see the Technical specifications page.