<p>As <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AJ....115.1693C/abstract" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the paper outlining the NVSS</a> notes, 1.4 GHz happens to lie in a sweet spot of radio frequencies. It falls into the &quot;intermediate-frequency gap&quot; in which many of the sources of interest display little variability, making the survey useful for future astronomy. At higher frequencies, sources tend to exhibit intrinsic variability; at lower frequencies, effects from interstellar scintillation become more drastic - something true of many processes involving the interstellar medium.</p>
<p>The reason for the <em>precise</em> choice of frequency is the abundance of L band radio receivers that cover it. It corresponds to the famous 21 cm line, the signature of neutral hydrogen (e.g. in the form of clouds and HI regions). Since Galactic and extragalactic neutral hydrogen are commonly studied - and since you can use the same frequencies to observe many broadband sources, like pulsars and fast radio bursts - L band receivers are ubiquitous. Hence, at least some of the VLA's observing capabilities in this intermediate frequency gap were centered near 1.4 GHz, making it a reasonable choice.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-06T22:41:41.387Z
The end of Section 2 in the paper also list 3 practical/technical reasons why 1.4 GHz namely 1) beam size and no. of footprints needed to cover the sky, 2) use of full observing bandwidth concerns (don't fully understand the details here) and 3) limited time window to make a sensitive search at 1.4 GHz before adjacent interference from the [Broadcasting Satellite Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting-satellite_service) in the 1.436-1.508 GHz band made it impossible
astrosnapper
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-06T21:27:33.650Z
2022-07-06T21:27:33.650Z
HDE 226868
<p>I am observing the nature of some galaxies looking at their radio images and contours from NVSS. So, the data collected have radio flux at other wavelengths but I am studying it at 1.4GHz. I have been told it's because some flux at the 1.4 GHz continuum confirms it to have radio emission at other wavelengths too. On the NVSS <a href="https://www.cv.nrao.edu/nvss/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">site</a> they only mentioned what they did, not why.</p>
<p>I don't understand the exact reason. Can someone please help in this?</p>

<observational-astronomy><radio-astronomy><sky-survey><radio>
Why was the NVSS(NRAO VLS Sky Survey) conducted at 1.4 GHz continuum?
Mirae
# Why was the NVSS(NRAO VLS Sky Survey) conducted at 1.4 GHz continuum?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-06)

I am observing the nature of some galaxies looking at their radio images and contours from NVSS. So, the data collected have radio flux at other wavelengths but I am studying it at 1.4GHz. I have been told it's because some flux at the 1.4 GHz continuum confirms it to have radio emission at other wavelengths too. On the NVSS [site](https://www.cv.nrao.edu/nvss/) they only mentioned what they did, not why.

I don't understand the exact reason. Can someone please help in this?

**Tags:** observational-astronomy, radio-astronomy, sky-survey, radio


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-07-06. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

As [the paper outlining the NVSS](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AJ....115.1693C/abstract) notes, 1.4 GHz happens to lie in a sweet spot of radio frequencies. It falls into the "intermediate-frequency gap" in which many of the sources of interest display little variability, making the survey useful for future astronomy. At higher frequencies, sources tend to exhibit intrinsic variability; at lower frequencies, effects from interstellar scintillation become more drastic - something true of many processes involving the interstellar medium.

The reason for the *precise* choice of frequency is the abundance of L band radio receivers that cover it. It corresponds to the famous 21 cm line, the signature of neutral hydrogen (e.g. in the form of clouds and HI regions). Since Galactic and extragalactic neutral hydrogen are commonly studied - and since you can use the same frequencies to observe many broadband sources, like pulsars and fast radio bursts - L band receivers are ubiquitous. Hence, at least some of the VLA's observing capabilities in this intermediate frequency gap were centered near 1.4 GHz, making it a reasonable choice.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: The end of Section 2 in the paper also list 3 practical/technical reasons why 1.4 GHz namely 1) beam size and no. of footprints needed to cover the sky, 2) use of full observing bandwidth concerns (don't fully understand the details here) and 3) limited time window to make a sensitive search at 1.4 GHz before adjacent interference from the [Broadcasting Satellite Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting-satellite_service) in the 1.436-1.508 GHz band made it impossible  

---

