Data Analysis of the Characteristics of the Most Powerful Discrete Radio Sources Used in Gain Measurements of Large Antennas by Radio Astronomy

Abstract

For the effective application of the radio astronomical method for measuring the gain of large antennas, the problems of discrepancies in the flux densities of the main calibration radio sources (remnants of supernova Cassiopeia A and Taurus A and the radio galaxy Cygnus A) have been analyzed according to data from different catalogues, as well as with allowance for their angular sizes and structure. The data on the characteristics of these radio sources obtained at the Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute and other radio astronomical observatories over several decades have been compared.