RADIO-STAR SCINTILLATIONS AND THE AURORAL ZONE

Abstract

A continuous series of observations of scintillations of the radio star, Cassiopeia A, carried out at Saskatoon at a frequency near 53 Mc/s over a period of nearly 4 years has been analyzed. The altitude-angle dependence of the scintillations was very strong in 1955 but weak in 1958. This behavior suggests that the scintillations are not produced in a uniform layer of the atmosphere. It seems more likely that the scintillations arise most strongly in regions of the atmosphere closely associated with the auroral zone and that these regions migrate southward during years of intense sunspot activity.