Radio telescopes are powerful tools that allow astronomers to study the Universe. We often read about the discoveries they make, but we rarely get a glimpse of the engineers and technicians that design and build these telescopes. Join our host Summer Ash as she talks about NRAO’s Central Development Laboratory (CDL) and how CDL helps make modern radio astronomy a reality.

The post Baseline 14— Central Development Laboratory: The Magic Behind the Wonder appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

A Deep Gravitational Sinkhole Swallows Unlucky Bypassing Star

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and SpaceX have finalized a radio spectrum coordination agreement to limit interference from the company’s Starlink satellites to radio astronomy assets operating between 10.6 and 10.7 GHz. The agreement, detailed in a statement released by NSF today, ensures that Starlink satellite network plans will meet international radio astronomy protection standards, and protect NSF-funded radio astronomy facilities, including the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the Green Bank Observatory (GBO). The agreement will also positively impact collaborations and cooperation between SpaceX and NSF’s NOIRLab.

“We are setting the stage for a successful partnership between commercial and public endeavors that allows important science research to flourish alongside satellite communication,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, in the NSF statement.

Tony Beasley, NRAO Director and Vice President for Radio Astronomy at Associated Universities Inc. (AUI) added, “Cooperation between commercial satellite providers and research facilities is essential to ensuring the future of these two major industries that both rely on the limited radio spectrum. This landmark agreement between NSF and SpaceX proves that collaboration between commercial entities and research facilities is not only a possibility, but also a positive path forward for additional cooperative opportunities.” 

In May 2019, SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink satellites into orbit, prompting attention from the astronomy community. As of December 2022, Starlink has over 3,000 satellites in orbit. The ever-growing presence of small satellites in the radio spectrum has created a potential for cross-over between bands, and a need for better communication between active and passive users to reduce interference.

“This agreement echoes protections in place in the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) that protect the radio spectrum from terrestrial based radio interference. These combined efforts, of land and sky, will safeguard the scientific research of  astronomers for generations to come,” said Jim Jackson, GBO Director. GBO is located in the heart of the NRQZ, which was established in 1958 to protect federal radio observations conducted in a 14,000 square mile region spanning West Virginia, and parts of Virginia and Maryland. 

NRAO has been collaborating with SpaceX since 2021 to test the impact of Starlink satellites on radio astronomy observations conducted between 10.6 and 10.7 GHz. Additional tests have monitored the level of impact in the 10.7-12.27 GHz and 14.0-14.5 GHz ranges. The results have provided scientists with a better understanding of the actual and potential impacts of satellites on research, and paved the way for this agreement. 

In the past two years, NSF has funded the efforts of the National Radio Dynamic Zone (NRDZ) and Spectrum Innovation Initiative, which are collaborations created by multiple organizations, including NRAO, to define and eventually monitor the NRDZ. “NRAO is dedicated to the protection of radio astronomical observations in the decades ahead, which will be challenging. Experiments in coordinated spectrum use like the ones that we are performing with SpaceX will provide a strong foundation for the type of testing and analysis that could occur in an NRDZ,” said Chris De Pree NRDZ Project Director at NRAO. 

Above and beyond the current agreement, NSF and SpaceX will continue to explore ways to further protect radio astronomy while still allowing commercial satellite operations to flourish. 

“It is important that we are all at the table from the very beginning of the design phase, and pursue solutions that work for the needs of scientists, business, and the public,” said Adam Cohen, President and CEO of AUI. “Having the support and guidance of NSF through this process and the support and cooperation of SpaceX will safeguard the future of radio astronomy and astronomy in general.” 

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Green Bank Observatory are facilities of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by AUI. 

Media Contacts:

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information and News Manager, NRAO
Public Information Officer, ALMA-North America
Tel: +1 434-296-0314
[email protected] 

Dave Finley
Public Information Officer, NRAO-VLA, VLBA
Tel: +1 505-241-9210
[email protected]

Jill Malusky
Public Information Officer, Green Bank Observatory
Tel: +1 304-456-5608
[email protected]

The post NSF and SpaceX Finalize Radio Spectrum Coordination Agreement appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Five new scientific results from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Very Large Array (VLA), and the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) will be revealed at multiple press conferences during the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) from January 8 to 12, 2023, in Seattle, Wash.

The AAS meeting includes a series of press conferences based on a range of themes. Presentations will highlight new research, including a peek at how turbulence and very hungry black holes are shaping their environments, what masers and magnetic fields are revealing about the lives of massive stars, and how scientists right here on Earth are exploring the Solar System using high-powered radar techniques.

Press conferences will be held in person during the conference, and streamed live on the AAS Press Office YouTube Channel.

Note: Each press conference consists of a panel of scientists presenting 4-5 unique scientific results. The number listed in parentheses indicates the order of presentation for the listed result. 

All press conferences are listed and will occur in Pacific Time.

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Monday, January 9, 2023 @ 10:15am PST — Eyes on Galaxies with JWST

Philip Appleton, Caltech (3)

“Zooming In on the Shocked and Turbulent Intergalactic Medium in Stephan’s Quintet with JWST and ALMA”

Embargo access for members of the press, please contact ALMA PIO Amy C. Oliver at [email protected].

Monday, January 9, 2023 @ 2:15pm PST — Mergers, Bursts & Jets

Michael Koss, Eureka Scientific (1)

“The Closest-Separation Confirmed Multiwavelength Dual Active Galactic Nuclei”

Embargo access for members of the press, please contact ALMA PIO Amy C. Oliver at [email protected].

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Sirina Prasad, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (4)

“Using ALMA to Observe a Rare Hydrogen Recombination Line Maser–Emitting Star”

Embargo access for members of the press, please contact ALMA PIO Amy C. Oliver at [email protected].

Tuesday, January 10, 2023 @ 10:15am PST — New Developments in the World of Planets

Patrick Taylor, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (1)

“Planetary Defense & Science Advanced by New Radar on Green Bank Telescope”

Embargo access for members of the press, please contact GBO PIO Jill Malusky at [email protected].

Thursday, January 12, 2023 @ 10:15am PST — Clouds and Nebulae

Peter Barnes, Space Science Institute (5)

“SOFIA and ALMA Investigate the Case of the Masquerading Monster BYF 73”

Embargo access for members of the press, please contact USRA Sr. Communications Specialist Anashe Bandari at [email protected].

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The full press conference program is available on the AAS 241 Press Web Site. NRAO/GBO Public Information Officers will be available to assist journalists with all listed press conferences during the live conference.

NRAO Media Contacts

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information and News Manager, NRAO
Public Information Officer, ALMA-North America
Tel: +1 434-296-0314
[email protected]

Dave Finley
Public Information Officer, NRAO-VLA, VLBA
Tel: +1 505-241-9210
[email protected]

Jill Malusky
Public Information Officer, Green Bank Observatory
Tel: +1 304-456-2236
[email protected]

In addition to the press conferences, dozens of papers with new and ongoing science results from NRAO facilities will be presented during AAS 241 conference sessions.

About NRAO

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

About Green Bank Observatory

The Green Bank Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation and is operated by Associated Universities, Inc. The first national radio astronomy observatory in the U.S., it is home to the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope, the largest fully-steerable radio telescope in the word.

About ALMA

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

The post Science Results From NRAO Facilities to Be Presented at Multiple AAS 241 Press Conferences appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Orphaned Stars Were Lost into Intergalactic Space Long Ago

While studying a nearby pair of merging galaxies using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)— an international observatory co-operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)— scientists discovered two supermassive black holes growing simultaneously near the center of the newly coalescing galaxy. These super-hungry giants are the closest together that scientists have ever observed in multiple wavelengths. What’s more, the new research reveals that binary black holes and the galaxy mergers that create them may be surprisingly commonplace in the Universe. The results of the new research were published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and presented in a press conference at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington.

At just 500 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Cancer, UGC4211 is an ideal candidate for studying the end stages of galaxy mergers, which occur more frequently in the distant Universe, and as a result, can be difficult to observe. When scientists used the highly sensitive 1.3mm receivers at ALMA to look deep into the merger’s active galactic nuclei— compact, highly luminous areas in galaxies caused by the accretion of matter around central black holes— they found not one, but two black holes gluttonously devouring the byproducts of the merger. Surprisingly, they were dining side-by-side with just 750 light-years between them.

“Simulations suggested that most of the population of black hole binaries in nearby galaxies would be inactive because they are more common, not two growing black holes like we found,” said Michael Koss, a senior research scientist at Eureka Scientific and the lead author of the new research. 

Koss added that the use of ALMA was a game-changer, and that finding two black holes so close together in the nearby Universe could pave the way for additional studies of the exciting phenomenon. “ALMA is unique in that it can see through large columns of gas and dust and achieve very high spatial resolution to see things very close together. Our study has identified one of the closest pairs of black holes in a galaxy merger, and because we know that galaxy mergers are much more common in the distant Universe, these black hole binaries too may be much more common than previously thought.” 

If close-paired binary black hole pairs are indeed commonplace, as Koss and the team posit, there could be significant implications for future detections of gravitational waves.

Ezequiel Treister, an astronomer at Universidad Católica de Chile and a co-author of the research said, “​​There might be many pairs of growing supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies that we have not been able to identify so far. If this is the case, in the near future we will be observing frequent gravitational wave events caused by the mergers of these objects across the Universe.”

Pairing ALMA data with multi-wavelength observations from other powerful telescopes like Chandra, Hubble, ESO’s Very Large Telescope, and Keck added fine details to an already-compelling tale. “Each wavelength tells a different part of the story. While ground-based optical imaging showed us the whole merging galaxy, Hubble showed us the nuclear regions at high resolutions. X-ray observations revealed that there was at least one active galactic nucleus in the system,” said Treister. “And ALMA showed us the exact location of these two growing, hungry supermassive black holes. All of these data together have given us a clearer picture of how galaxies such as our own turned out to be the way they are, and what they will become in the future.” 

So far, scientists have mostly studied only the earliest stages of galaxy mergers. The new research could have a profound impact on our understanding of the Milky Way Galaxy’s own impending merger with the nearby Andromeda Galaxy. Koss said, “The Milky Way-Andromeda collision is in its very early stages and is predicted to occur in about 4.5 billion years. What we’ve just studied is a source in the very final stage of collision, so what we’re seeing presages that merger and also gives us insight into the connection between black holes merging and growing and eventually producing gravitational waves.”

“This fascinating discovery shows the power of ALMA and how multi-wavelength astronomy can generate important results that expand our understanding of the universe, including black holes, active galactic nuclei, galaxy evolution and more,” says Joe Pesce, NSF program director for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. “With the advent of gravitational wave detectors, we have an opportunity to expand our observational powers even further by combining all these capabilities. I don’t think there’s really a limit to what we can learn.”

About NRAO

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

About ALMA

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

Media Contact:

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information Officer, ALMA
Public Information & News Manager, NRAO
+1 434 242 9584
[email protected]

The post ALMA Scientists Find Pair of Black Holes Dining Together in Nearby Galaxy Merger appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

While using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the masers around oddball star MWC 349A scientists discovered something unexpected: a previously unseen jet of material launching from the star’s gas disk at impossibly high speeds. What’s more, they believe the jet is caused by strong magnetic forces surrounding the star. The discovery could help researchers to understand the nature and evolution of massive stars and how hydrogen masers are formed in space. The new observations were presented today in a press conference at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington.

Located roughly 3,900 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, MWC 349A’s unique features make it a hot spot for scientific research in optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths. The massive star— roughly 30 times the mass of the Sun— is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky, and one of only a handful of objects known to have hydrogen masers. These masers amplify microwave radio emissions, making it easier to study processes that are typically too small to see. It is this unique feature that allowed scientists to map MWC 349A’s disk in detail for the first time.

“A maser is like a naturally occurring laser,” said Sirina Prasad, an undergraduate research assistant at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), and the primary author of the paper. “It’s an area in outer space that emits a really bright kind of light. We can see this light and trace it back to where it came from, bringing us one step closer to figuring out what’s really going on.” 

Leveraging the resolving power of ALMA’s Band 6, developed by the US National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the team was able to use the masers to uncover the previously unseen structures in the star’s immediate environment. Qizhou Zhang, a senior astrophysicist at CfA, and the project’s principal investigator added, “We used masers generated by hydrogen to probe the physical and dynamic structures in the gas surrounding MWC 349A and revealed a flattened gas disk with a diameter of 50 au, approximately the size of the Solar System, confirming the near-horizontal disk structure of the star. We also found a fast-moving jet component hidden within the winds flowing away from the star.” 

The observed jet is ejecting material away from the star at a blistering 500 km per second. That’s akin to traveling the distance between San Diego, California and Phoenix, Arizona in the literal blink of an eye. According to researchers, it is probable that a jet moving this fast is being launched by a magnetic force. In the case of MWC 349A, that force could be a magnetohydrodynamic wind— a type of wind whose movement is dictated by the interplay between the star’s magnetic field and gases present in its surrounding disk.

“Our previous understanding of MWC 349A was that the star was surrounded by a rotating disk and photo-evaporating wind. Strong evidence for an additional collimated jet had not yet been seen in this system. Although we don’t yet know for certain where it comes from or how it is made, it could be that a magnetohydrodynamic wind is producing the jet, in which case the magnetic field is responsible for launching rotating material from the system,” said Prasad. “This could help us to better understand the disk-wind dynamics of MWC 349A, and the interplay between circumstellar disks, winds, and jets in other star systems.”

About NRAO

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

 About ALMA

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

Media Contact:

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information Officer, ALMA
Public Information & News Manager, NRAO
+1 434 242 9584
[email protected]

The post Hydrogen Masers Reveal New Secrets of a Massive Star to ALMA Scientists appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Shockwaves resulting from the violent collision between an intruder galaxyGalaxyA large body of gas, dust, stars, and their companions (Planets, asteroids, moons, etc.) held together by their mutual gravitational attraction. They are grouped into three main categories: spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, and irregular galaxies. (see below) Another class of galaxies is peculiar galaxies, which are thought to be distorted versions of normal galaxies. and Stephan’s Quintet are helping astronomers to understand how turbulence influences gas in the intergalactic medium. New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed that a sonic boom several times the size of the Milky Way has kickstarted a recycling plant for warm and cold molecular hydrogen gas. What’s more, scientists uncovered the break-up of a giant cloud into a fog of warm gas, the possible collision of two clouds forming a splash of warm gas around them, and the formation of a new galaxy. The observations were presented today in a press conference at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington.

Stephan’s Quintet is a group of five galaxies—NGC 7317, NGC 7318a, NGC 7318b, NGC 7319, and NGC 7320— generally located about 270 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The group provides a pristine laboratory for the study of galaxy collisions and their impact on the surrounding environment. Typically galaxy collisions and mergers trigger a burst of star formation; that’s not the case in Stephan’s Quintet. Instead, this violent activity is taking place in the intergalactic medium, away from the galaxies in places where there is little to no star formation to obstruct the view. 

That clean window into the Universe has allowed astronomers to watch what’s happening as one of the galaxies, NGC 7318b, violently intrudes into the group at a relative speed of roughly 800 km/second. At that speed, a trip from Earth to the Moon would take just eight minutes. “As this intruder crashes into the group, it is colliding with an old gas streamer that likely was caused by a previous interaction between two of the other galaxies, and is causing a giant shockwave to form,” said Philip Appleton, an astronomer and senior scientist at Caltech’s IPAC, and lead investigator on the project. “As the shockwave passes through this clumpy streamer, it is creating a highly turbulent, or unsteady, cooling layer, and it’s in the regions affected by this violent activity that we’re seeing unexpected structures and the recycling of molecular hydrogen gas. This is important because molecular hydrogen forms the raw material that may ultimately form stars, so understanding its fate will tell us more about the evolution of Stephan’s Quintet and galaxies in general.”

The new observations using ALMA’s Band 6 (1.3mm wavelength) receiver— developed by the U.S. National Science Foundation‘s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)— allowed scientists to zoom into three key regions in extreme detail, and for the first time, build a clear picture of how the hydrogen gas is moving and being shaped on a continuous basis.

“The power of ALMA is obvious in these observations, providing astronomers new insights and better understanding of these previously unknown processes,” said Joe Pesce, Program Officer for ALMA at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).

The region at the center of the main shock wave, dubbed Field 6, revealed a giant cloud of cold molecules that is being broken apart and stretched out into a long tail of warm molecular hydrogen and repeatedly recycled through these same phases. “What we’re seeing is the disintegration of a giant cloud of cold molecules in super-hot gas, and interestingly, the gas doesn’t survive the shock, it just cycles through warm and cold phases,” said Appleton. “We don’t yet fully understand these cycles, but we know the gas is being recycled because the length of the tail is longer than the time it takes for the clouds it is made from to be destroyed.”

This intergalactic recycling plant isn’t the only strange activity resulting from the shockwaves. In the region dubbed Field 5, scientists observed two cold gas clouds connected by a stream of warm molecular hydrogen gas. Curiously, one of the clouds— which resembles a high-speed bullet of cold hydrogen gas colliding with a large thread-like filament of spread out gas— created a ring in the structure as it punched through. The energy caused by this collision is feeding the warm envelope of gas around the region, but scientists aren’t quite sure what that means because they don’t yet have detailed observational data for the warm gas. “A molecular cloud piercing through intergalactic gas, and leaving havoc in its wake, may be rare and not yet fully understood,” said Bjorn Emonts, an astronomer at NRAO and a co-investigator on the project. “​​But our data show that we have taken the next step in understanding the shocking behavior and turbulent life-cycle of molecular gas clouds in Stephan’s Quintet.”   

Perhaps the most “normal” of the bunch is the region dubbed Field 4, where scientists found a steadier, less turbulent environment that allowed hydrogen gas to collapse into a disk of stars and what scientists believe is a small dwarf galaxy in formation. “In field 4, it is likely that pre-existing large clouds of dense gas have become unstable because of the shock, and have collapsed to form new stars as we expect, ” said Pierre Guillard, a researcher at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris and a co-investigator on the project, adding that all of the new observations have significant implications for theoretical models of the impact of turbulence in the Universe. “The shock wave in the intergalactic medium of Stephan’s Quintet has formed as much cold molecular gas as we have in our own Milky Way, and yet, it forms stars at a much slower rate than expected. Understanding why this material is sterile is a real challenge for theorists. Additional work is needed to understand the role of high levels of turbulence and efficient mixing between the cold and hot gas.”

Prior to the ALMA observations, scientists had little idea all of this was playing out in the Quintet’s intergalactic medium, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. In 2010, the team used NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to observe Stephan’s Quintet and discovered large clouds of warm— estimated to be between 100° to 400° Kelvin, or roughly -280° to 260° Fahrenheit— molecular hydrogen mixed in with the super-hot gas. “These clouds should have been destroyed by the large-scale shockwave moving through the group, but weren’t. And we wanted to know, and still want to know, how did they survive?” said Appleton. 

To solve the mystery, the team needed more and different technological power and capability. ALMA’s first light occurred more than a year later, in late 2011 and JWST captured its first images earlier this year. The combination of these powerful resources has provided strikingly beautiful infrared images of Stephan’s Quintet, and a tantalizing, though incomplete, understanding of the relationship between the cold, warm molecular, and ionized hydrogen gases in the wake of the giant shockwave. The team now needs spectroscopic data to unlock the secrets of the warm molecular hydrogen gas.

“These new observations have given us some answers, but ultimately showed us just how much we don’t yet know,” said Appleton. “While we now have a better understanding of the gas structures and the role of turbulence in creating and sustaining them, future spectroscopic observations will trace the motions of the gas through the doppler effect, tell us how fast the warm gas is moving, allow us to measure the temperature of the warm gas, and see how the gas is being cooled or warmed by the shockwaves. Essentially, we’ve got one side of the story. Now it’s time to get the other.”

About NRAO

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

About ALMA

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

Media Contact:

Amy C. Oliver
Public Information Officer, ALMA
Public Information & News Manager, NRAO
+1 434 242 9584
[email protected]

The post ALMA and JWST Reveal Galactic Shock is Shaping Stephan’s Quintet in Mysterious Ways appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The design for the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) prototype antenna has passed an intensive, five-day review, clearing the way to begin manufacturing the prototype antenna. The review in Wiesbaden, Germany was attended by scientists and engineers from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the NSF’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and mtex antenna technology GmbH, the firm contracted to develop the design and produce the prototype. The NRAO and mtex representatives presented details of the design to a panel of experts — coming from U.S. and South African institutions — independent of the project.

The review panel’s report recommended that the project proceed to manufacturing the prototype antenna. They concluded that the design fulfills ngVLA requirements and is mature enough to be manufactured. While they noted some items that need additional work, they said those items are minor and do not require further external review. The panel also noted the “good, healthy, open and honest working relationship between mtex and NRAO.”

“The antennas are a key element of the ngVLA, and their performance is vital to the success of the entire system. I congratulate the NRAO-mtex team on this important milestone in their development,” said NRAO Director Tony Beasley.

The ngVLA, a powerful radio telescope with 263 dish antennas distributed across North America, is proposed as one of the next generation of cutting-edge astronomical observatories designed to meet the leading research challenges of the coming decades. It will have sensitivity to detect faint objects and resolving power more than 10 times greater than the current VLA.

NRAO and mtex signed a contract in mid-2021 for design of 244, 18-meter diameter antennas and production of a prototype. An additional 19, 6-meter antennas are not part of this contract. Based on NRAO specifications and a conceptual design study, NRAO and mtex have worked intensively to refine the design’s details to a level that allows prototype manufacturing to begin. The project is funded by the NSF.

The prototype will be manufactured by pre-selected suppliers and initially tested in 2023. In early 2024, it will be shipped to the VLA site in New Mexico. The prototype will undergo extensive testing before being integrated into the current VLA. After including any refinements arising from the final round of testing, the design will be ready for mass production, for which a separate contract will be awarded.

“This review confirmed that our colleagues at mtex clearly understand our needs for high quality and performance and also the requirement that the design can be manufactured cost effectively in the numbers needed,” said NRAO’s ngVLA Project Engineer Rob Selena.

In November of 2021, the ngVLA project received high priority from the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey (Astro2020) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for new ground-based observatories to be constructed during the coming decade. That report said, “The ngVLA facility would be absolutely unique worldwide in both sensitivity and frequency coverage,” and added that its capabilities are “of essential importance to astronomy.” Earlier in 2021, the Canadian Astronomy Long Range Plan 2020-2030 recommended that Canada support the ngVLA.

Last month, NRAO and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a collaboration on the ngVLA. The project will require approval by the NSF’s National Science Board and funding by Congress. Full construction could begin by 2025 with early scientific observations starting in 2028 and full scientific operations by 2035.

The ngVLA will have a dense core of antennas and a signal processing center at the current site of the VLA on the Plains of San Agustin in New Mexico. The system will include other antennas located throughout New Mexico and in west Texas, eastern Arizona, and northern Mexico. More far-flung antennas will be located in clusters in Hawaii, Washington, California, Iowa, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico (at Arecibo Observatory), the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada. Operations will be conducted at the VLA site and in nearby Socorro, New Mexico, with additional science operations in a metropolitan area to be determined.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

NOTE: Lowercase in company name is correct.

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Media Contact:
Dave Finley, Public Information Officer
(505) 241-9210

The post Design Review for ngVLA Antenna Clears Way for Prototype Construction appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Forty-eight days after suspending observations due to a cyberattack, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is observing the sky again. The computing staff has worked diligently to rebuild the affected JAO computer system servers and services. This is a crucial milestone in the recovery process. 

On 29 October, ALMA suffered a cyberattack. The computing staff took immediate countermeasures to avoid loss and damage to scientific data and IT infrastructure. The attack affected various critical operational servers and computers. 

“The challenge was to securely restore all the communication and computer systems as quickly as possible. We established an aggressive plan that required coordination with the ALMA partnership worldwide,” explains Jorge Ibsen, Head of the ALMA Computing Department. “Thanks to the active engagement of everyone in the partnership worldwide, especially the Computing, Engineering, and Science Operations staff, and the cybersecurity experts from ESO, NAOJ, and NRAO, we managed to be observing as planned.” 

In the coming weeks, the focus will be on recovering testing infrastructure and systems like the ALMA website and other services, which will allow the recovery of all the functionalities existing before the cyberattack. 

ALMA Director, Sean Dougherty, celebrates that: “It is fantastic to be back doing science observations once again! It has been an enormous challenge to rebuild our systems to return to observing securely. Thanks to everyone at the JAO and across the ALMA partnership for attaining this impressive milestone.” 

Media Contact(s):

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ALMA Observatory in Chile
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Amy C. Oliver
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Public Information Officer, ALMA North America
+ 1 434 242 9584
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[email protected]

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