NRAO and SpaceX have engaged in coordinated experiments involving NRAO telescopes and the Starlink satellite constellation for over two years. Early experiments began in late 2021 with the deployment of working Starlink user terminals near the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico and have continued to the present day. These experiments highlight the ways in which satellite constellations and radio telescopes might be able to coexist, provided there is mutual awareness of what the other is doing.

Supported by the National Science Foundation, NRAO and SpaceX are developing a system called Operational Data Sharing (ODS) that provides the current status (position in the sky and observing frequency) of two of its telescopes: the VLA in New Mexico and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia. SpaceX is able to incorporate these data into its operational algorithm so that its Starlink satellites can steer their downlink beams away the NRAO telescope “boresight” (where the telescopes are pointed in the sky) at the moment an observation is taking place.  This adaptation helps to ensure critical internet connectivity for users of the Starlink system while protecting and potentially expanding the frequency bands that radio astronomers can use for their research.

For more details on this developing system, see a recent video produced for NRAO by One World Media above.

The post NRAO and SpaceX Coordinate to Protect Radio Astronomy  appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

[Albuquerque, New Mexico – January 2024] – The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) marked its presence for the third consecutive year at the prestigious New Mexico Governor’s STEM Challenge, hosted at the main campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. The event brought together over 400 students from various schools across the state to showcase their innovative STEM projects.

NRAO, a proud sponsor of the event, was represented by a dedicated team including Jesse Alexander, Ham Radio Project Lead, from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), Vanshree Bhalotia, Education Specialist, from the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) department’s STEAM Education, and NRAO Jansky Fellow Dr. Julia Blue Bird. The team engaged with students and teachers, evaluating and supporting the projects presented by high school teams.

One of the highlights of NRAO’s participation was the selection of Tohatchi High School, located near Gallup on the Navajo Reservation, as the sponsored team. Their project, a groundbreaking water filtration system using corn husks, impressed the judges and exemplified the fusion of native practices with modern science to address crucial community needs.

Vanshree Bhalotia, representing NRAO’s STEAM Education program, established valuable connections with educators and STEM organizations, including the LANL Foundation. She emphasized the importance of engaging students in STEM projects that have real-world applications and showcased the educational opportunities available at the Very Large Array (VLA).

Reflecting on the event, Jesse Alexander commended the students for their dedication to solving significant challenges. The theme for this year’s challenge was “Now that we live in a post-pandemic world, how can we improve overall mental, physical, or relational health and wellness in our homes, schools, and communities through the use of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)?”

The sponsorship of Tohatchi High School’s project underscored NRAO’s commitment to supporting innovative solutions and fostering STEM talent in New Mexico.

The Governor’s STEM Challenge provided a platform for networking and collaboration, with NRAO aiming to expand its role as a valuable resource for teachers in the state’s STEM education community. The event also facilitated interactions with key figures in the STEM field, including Tobie Baker Wright from LANL and Dean Reilly, who shared insights on social connections and human engineering.

NRAO looks forward to building on the success of its participation at the New Mexico Governor’s STEM Challenge and continuing to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders in the state.

About NRAO

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

For media inquiries or further information, please contact: 

NRAO Media Contact

Corrina C. Jaramillo Feldman
Public Information Officer – New Mexico
VLA, VLBA, ngVLA
Tel: +1 505-366-7267
[email protected]

The post National Radio Astronomy Observatory Shines at New Mexico Governor’s STEM Challenge appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

This International Women’s Day, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) celebrates the selection of Dr. Patricia (Trish) Henning as the next Associate Director for New Mexico Operations. In this position, she will lead the operations of the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), the continent-wide Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), and the Domenici Science Operations Center in Socorro. She formerly served as NRAO’s Assistant Director for New Mexico Operations and Assistant Director for Science Support and Research.

Dr. Henning’s journey to the forefront of radio astronomy began with a passion for unraveling the mysteries of the Universe. After earning her Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Maryland, she received a postdoctoral appointment at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, where she honed her expertise in the field. In 1993, Dr. Henning joined the University of New Mexico (UNM), where she was a professor of physics and astronomy, and held various leadership roles while continuing her groundbreaking research with radio telescopes.

At UNM, Dr. Henning’s leadership extended far beyond her immediate research area. As Director of the Institute for Astrophysics and Associate Vice President for Research, she played a pivotal role in shaping the university’s research agenda and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. Her tenure as Head of User Programs for the Long Wavelength Array and Associate Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy showcased her commitment to advancing scientific inquiry and nurturing the next generation of astronomers. 

In her new role at NRAO, Dr. Henning is poised to lead New Mexico Operations with a vision for innovation and excellence. With oversight of prestigious facilities such as the VLA and the VLBA, she aims to keep NRAO at the forefront of astronomical research while fostering a culture of inclusivity and collaboration. Although this role is new to Dr. Henning, she is no stranger to positions of leadership. When asked what effective leadership looks like, Dr. Henning responded saying, “A great leader gives people what they need to do what they do best. The higher up you are in any organization, the more people you serve. Ultimately, our common goal is serving the community and exciting the public about science and helping people make discoveries.” 

As a trailblazer in the field of radio astronomy, Dr. Henning is a staunch advocate for gender equality and diversity in STEM. Drawing from her own experiences, she underscores the importance of creating inclusive environments where all voices are heard and valued. 

“Gender equality and opportunity in STEM in general means everyone is welcome, and everyone is welcome to bring their own perspective, but it goes beyond that,” Henning emphasized. “We need everyone’s perspective. Everyone’s lived experience will impact how they solve a problem and how they come up with a creative solution no one has thought of before. Equality leads to the best science because you’re not missing out on talent because folks aren’t allowed in the room.” 

Dr. Henning was also asked what advice she would give to women considering pursuing a career in astronomy or science in general. “If you want to be in astronomy – astronomy is very exciting because I think it’s the broadest science there is. You need to know a lot about mathematics and computation, and also physics. Astronomy encompasses all subfields of physics. Gravity, radiation interacting with matter, etc… The point is that you have to know a lot about a lot of different kinds of physics which, to me, makes it fun.” “When you’re learning,” Dr. Henning continued, “you get to learn a lot of different things. You have to take the math and the physics and the astrophysics basics, but know that astronomy brings many concepts together, so be looking for the linkages. There are new discoveries all the time, so try to get in touch with brand-new discoveries and read about them. Follow up and ask questions about things that spark your interest. And when things spark your interest, get ready to dive in. Be ready to be amazed, and learn the background math and physics to be able to understand what cutting-edge astronomy really is.” 

Although the world of STEM hasn’t always been particularly inclusive or accepting, Dr. Henning says that the world has changed. “When I was first starting out, well I went to a women’s college. Before that, I was a good student, and it wasn’t until I went to college that I really thought about doing science. If I hadn’t gone to a women’s college, I’m not sure that would have been true. I saw my astronomy professor, who was a woman, and I saw her teaching and thought, ‘Maybe I can do that.’” Dr. Henning continued, “I went to grad school and it was so different and male dominated. When I was a postdoc, one of the senior astronomers at the time said ‘You have to be twice as good because you’re a woman’. I hope that’s dead. My sense is it is. I would have given you a different answer 30 years ago. There was a time where we weren’t invited into the room…where we had to kind of break down the door.” Dr. Henning believes there’s more to diversity than simply equal opportunity. “The human part – the flipside,” she said, “is that I strongly believe that the universe belongs to everybody, and no one group has a lock on the universe. We all have the right to ask the profound questions. Because that’s what astronomy is. And so gender equality just recognizes that the sky is everyone’s. We need everybody to be out there studying, being creative, working hard, and making new discoveries.” 

Dr. Patricia Henning’s appointment as Associate Director for New Mexico Operations marks a significant milestone in the annals of radio astronomy. With her visionary leadership, unwavering dedication, and commitment to excellence, she is poised to inspire future generations of scientists and shape the course of astronomical discovery for years to come. 

About NRAO

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

For media inquiries or further information, please contact: 

NRAO Media Contact

Corrina C. Jaramillo Feldman
Public Information Officer – New Mexico
VLA, VLBA, ngVLA
Tel: +1 505-366-7267
[email protected]

The post Dr. Patricia (Trish) Henning: Leading the Way in Radio Astronomy appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The Universe is almost inconceivably vast. So is the amount of data astronomers collect when they study it. This is a challenging process for the scientists and engineers at the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). But what if they could do it over 300 times faster?

The NRAO manages some of the largest and most used radio telescopes in the world, including the NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). When these telescopes are observing the Universe, they collect vast amounts of data, for hours, months, even years at a time, depending on what they are studying. “We made a single deep image of a small portion of the sky with nearly 2 Terabytes of data – equivalent to 1350 photos taken with a phone every day for 2 years.  There are other projects that use the VLA to collect many 100s of Terabytes of data!”, explains Sanjay Bhatnagar, a scientist at the NRAO leading the Algorithms R&D Group. “Traditional ways of processing this data can take months or even years to finish – much longer than most existing supercomputing centers are optimized for.”

Looking for a more efficient way to process a particularly large VLA data set, to produce one of the deepest radio images of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), made famous by the Hubble Telescope, NRAO staff decided to try a different approach. “Earlier attempts using CPU cores in a supercomputer center took over 10 days to convert a Terabyte of data to an image.  In contrast, our approach takes only about one hour”, shares NRAO software engineer Felipe Madsen.

Processing at the rate of more than 1 Terabyte of data per hour, we made one of the deepest radio images ever made with a noise of 1 micro Jy/beam.

How is this possible? Rather than sending one Mt. Petabytes to one supercomputing facility, the data was divided into pieces and distributed to smaller banks of computers with GPUs, distributed to university computing centers across the country both large and small.

The NRAO team led by Sanjay from Domenici Science Operations Center (DSOC) in Socorro, New Mexico, working with the team at the Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) at Wisconsin, Madison, led by Brian Bockelman is the first to demonstrate an end-to-end radio astronomy imaging workflow harnessing computing capacity distributed across the US. “This spanned the nation from California to Clemson. We had the most universities contributing to a single, GPU-based workload, from large institutions like the University of California San Diego to small ones like the Emporia University.”, explains Brian Bockelman of the CHTC. “We believe that researchers should have quick and easy access to the nation’s investments in computing capacity and the best way to do this is through sharing”.

These distributed capacity contribution were united using open source technologies like HTCondor for computing and Pelican for data delivery, developed by the NSF-funded Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing (PATh; NSF grant #2030508) and the Pelican Project (NSF grant #2331480), respectively.  These technologies power the Open Science Pool (OSPool) which stitches together the different computers amongst universities, including those in the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) led National Research Platform (NRP).

“The data was accessed via the National Research Platform (NRP) data caches deployed in the network backbone of Internet2 and federated into the Open Science Data Federation,” said SDSC Director Frank Würthwein. “NRAO thus validated a Modus operandi we expect to become more and more common as we democratize access and ownership of cyberinfrastructure for open science, especially in light of the growth of AI research and education at all scales.”

This test wasn’t just done to benefit astronomers who want to make deep images to study the universe at radio frequencies with current telescopes. It lays the groundwork for much larger projects in the future. “The next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) will be producing 100x more data than what we used for this test.  This work gives us the confidence that we can tackle large volumes of data that we’ll have from the ngVLA one day”, says Bhatnagar with cautious optimism. “We hope the success of this test inspires other radio astronomers to dream big. If the open computing capacity offered by the OSPool works for our NRAO lab, it will work for others. Researchers from small universities with little or no computing power can do this, too”.

This won’t be the last time NRAO experiments with dispersed data processing. Says Preshanth Jagannathan, a scientist in the NRAO team, “The experiment showed us where we, and the CHTC, can jointly make improvements in the way the OSPool delivers open capacity to the radio astronomers.  Both teams are eagerly looking forward to the next step and continued collaboration.”

About NRAO

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

The post Astronomers & Engineers Use a Grid of Computers at a National Scale to Study the Universe 300 Times Faster appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

From the New Mexico desert to the plains of Western Saxony, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) has brought together American and German radio astronomers to discuss exciting new science opportunities that could be possible with this transformative new facility. 

Over the course of two scientific meetings, held in 2022 and 2023, German astronomers have collected 41 highly compelling science cases involving 57 unique authors from 19 German institutions, all aspiring to use the ngVLA.

Why Germany? mtex antenna technology, based in Schkeuditz, Saxony, has been designing and constructing a prototype of the ngVLA antenna. A total of 244 of these radio dishes are planned for the massive instrument. They will work together as a single telescope array throughout New Mexico and the American southwest, along with longer baseline antenna stations located across the North American Continent.

Members of the German radio astronomy community have shown that their science interests are complementary to those of American astronomers. In many science cases, strong synergies and the potential for close international collaborations can be seen, in such examples as Imaging Young Solar System Analogues in Formation, Resolving the Doppler Crisis, Zooming into Feedback Engines, and more. A number of the science cases of interest are already covered in the existing ngVLA science book, with the involvement of German researchers. Additionally, it has been noted that the German community has a particular interest in very-long-baseline science cases that go beyond what has already been captured in the ngVLA Science Book. 

Since 2006, German universities and research institutes with an interest in astrophysical science based on observations at meter wavelengths have been organized in the German Long Wavelength Consortium (GLOW). Activities of GLOW have put a strong emphasis on long-wavelength radio interferometers such as the Long-Wavelength Array (LOFAR) and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Now,  a new working group has been established with a special focus on observations at shorter cm- to sub-mm radio wavelengths, and German astronomers expect the ngVLA to play an important role in this group.

“Some of us were already excited about the ngVLA project, but we did not know what the real interest in our community in Germany is”, explained Prof. Dominik Riechers from the University of Cologne. “We received a very positive response to an initial exploratory workshop we held in late 2022 in Bonn, which made it clear to us that a significant fraction of the German radio-astronomy community has a strong and growing interest in the ngVLA. We thus decided to hold a second workshop in September 2023 in Leipzig, this time with a focus on discussing potential science use cases.” He added, “In addition to members of the German community, we welcomed Tony Beasley, NRAO Director, and Eric Murphy, ngVLA Project Scientist, as well as other international colleagues.” “We are quite honored and excited that the German astronomy community is showing such a strong interest in the ngVLA,” commented Eric Murphy, “and we look forward to them both as prominent users in the future, and as strong collaborators as we continue to work with their community to finalize the ngVLA design.”

“These discussions resulted in the collection and publication of our science interests,” adds Prof. Matthias Kadler from the University of Wuerzburg. “Although extensive, this is not even a complete representation yet,” he was quick to add. “We are in contact with several colleagues who could not finish their science cases in time for this initial volume, but have promised to contribute in the future.” 

“We hope that our excitement about these developments will continue to transfer to the many young astronomers that have been participating in our workshops, who will be in the prime of their careers when the ngVLA comes online,” Riechers added.

About NRAO

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

NRAO Media Contact

Corrina C. Jaramillo Feldman
Public Information Officer – New Mexico
VLA, VLBA, ngVLA
Tel: +1 505-366-7267
[email protected]

The post German Astronomers Share Proposed Science for the ngVLA appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Two student researchers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s National Astronomy Consortium (NAC) program were each awarded the prestigious Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Awards medal during the 243rd proceedings of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Miguel Montalvo and Nicolas (Nico) McMahon completed their NAC summer research projects in 2023, and each received a Chambliss medal for exemplary research in astrophysics. 

Miguel Montalvo, Princeton University

Montalvo is a first-generation college student currently pursuing a Ph.D.  in Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. He was awarded a Chambliss Medal at this year’s winter AAS meeting for his iPoster presentation on Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). 

Montalvo’s research used photometric data obtained from the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey (HSC) and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to study Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). “We found that both obscured and unobscured Type-1 AGN have similar low inclination angles and the obscuration seen in red quasars can’t be explained by the Unified Model alone.” 

This is the second Chambliss medal Miguel has been awarded, having also won for work presented at AAS 241. While he is grateful for the research opportunities NAC has provided, Miguel most appreciates the sense of community the program fosters. “As part of the program, I’ve been able to present my research at the AAS meetings every year since I joined, and as a result, I’ve been awarded a Chambliss medal for my presentations,” he says. “Yet, the most important thing that has come from the NAC is a community of support where I feel valued and celebrated as a non-traditional researcher.”

Nicolas McMahon,  Boston University

McMahon was awarded a Chambliss Medal for his work on Type Ia supernovae (SNIa). These cataclysmic stellar explosions are used as “standard candles” to probe the rate of accelerating expansion of the universe. His study focused on the “Mass Step” relationship, which is an underlying correlation observed between the peak brightness of SNIa and the stellar mass of their host galaxies. “Using the Pantheon+ sample, the largest sample of SNIa to date, as well as cutting-edge computational tools like the spectral energy distribution fitting code Prospector, my team and I are working to understand how our methodology impacts the observed strength of the Mass Step relationship.”

Nico has been a lifelong stargazer but feels his NAC experience has been truly life-changing. “The NAC program has helped tear down barriers to access in my field. I have been able to travel across the country to conferences in Washington D.C., Portland, and New Orleans, and the NAC program has made it possible for me to gain experience sharing my work with experts and novices alike in forums I previously would not have had access to.” As a Queer, Latine astronomer, Nico is driven to make astronomy more accessible to marginalized communities and elevate the voices of other marginalized astronomers for the betterment of our shared community.

The Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Awards are juried by a volunteer cohort of professional scientists and other members of the astronomical community during the American Astronomical Society conference each January and June. A full list of Chambliss award recipients is available at https://aas.org/posts/news/2023/03/congratulations-aas-241-chambliss-student-award-winners.

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

About NAC

National Astronomy Consortium (NAC) is a program of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. NAC is a summer research experience program for undergraduate students in the United States who have been underserved by the traditional academic pipeline. The program aims to increase the number of students in STEM fields by helping them to build networks of support for success early in their academic careers and beyond.

The post NAC Student Researchers Receive Prestigious Chambliss Medals at AAS 243 appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

How can humans protect the Earth from “devastating asteroid and comet impacts?” According to the National Academies and their 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, ground based astronomical radar systems will have a “unique role” to play in planetary defense.

There is currently only one system in the world concentrating on these efforts, NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar, part of the Deep Space Network (DSN). However, a new instrument concept from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) called the next generation RADAR (ngRADAR) system will use the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and other current and future facilities to expand on these capabilities.

“There are many applications for the future of radar, from substantially advancing our knowledge of the Solar System, to informing future robotic and crewed spaceflight, and characterizing hazardous objects that stray too close to Earth,” shares Tony Beasley, NRAO’s director.

On Saturday, February 17th, scientists will showcase recent results obtained with ground-based radar systems at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference in Denver, Colorado.

“NRAO, with the support of the National Science Foundation and oversight by Associated Universities, Inc., has a long history of using radar to further our understanding of the Universe. Most recently the GBT helped confirm the success of NASA’s DART mission, the first test to see if humans could successfully alter the trajectory of an asteroid, “ shares NRAO scientist and ngRADAR project director Patrick Taylor.

The GBT is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. The maneuverability of its 100-meter dish enables it to observe 85 percent of the celestial sphere, allowing it to quickly track objects across its field of view. Adds Taylor, “With the support of Raytheon Technologies, ngRADAR pilot tests on the GBT—using a low-power transmitter with less output than a standard microwave oven—have produced the highest-resolution images of the Moon ever taken from Earth. Imagine what we could do with a more powerful transmitter.”

Scientists sharing their results at AAAS include Edgard G. Rivera-Valentín of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and Marina Brozović of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages Goldstone and the DSN.  Adds Brozović, “The public might be surprised to learn that the technology we use in our current radar at Goldstone hasn’t changed much since World War II. For 99% of our observations, we transmit and receive from this one antenna. New radar transmitter designs, like ngRADAR on the GBT, have the potential to significantly increase the output power and waveform bandwidth, allowing for even higher resolution imaging. It will also produce a scalable and more robust system by using telescope arrays to increase the collecting area.”

“NRAO is an ideal organization to lead these efforts because of the instruments we have available to receive radar signals, like the Very Long Baseline Array has done in our pilot ngRADAR project,” explains Brian Kent, NRAO scientist and director of science communications, who coordinated the presentation at AAAS, “Future facilities like the next generation Very Large Array, as a receiver, will create a powerful combination for planetary science.”

How does ground-based astronomical radar expand our understanding of the Universe? By allowing us to study our nearby Solar System, and everything in it, in unprecedented detail. Radar can reveal the surface and ancient geology of planets and their moons, letting us trace their evolution. It can also determine the location, size, and speed of potentially hazardous Near Earth Objects, like comets or asteroids. Advances in astronomical radar are opening new avenues, renewed investment, and interest in joint industry and scientific community collaborations as a multidisciplinary venture.

About NRAO & GBO

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

The Green Bank Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation and is operated by Associated Universities, Inc.

The post Can Astronomers Use Radar to Spot a Cataclysmic Asteroid? appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

In our most basic understanding of our Solar System, planets are drawn into the orbit of our massive star, the Sun. But what happens to planet-sized objects that don’t have a star? A team of astronomers studying Jupiter-mass binary objects (JuMBOs) in the Orion Nebula are gaining a new understanding of these unusual systems. These massive, free-floating objects are being drawn into orbit with each other. These latest findings come from observations made by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

This groundbreaking discovery has been made in the field of astronomy, thanks to advancements in sensitivity that have allowed scientists to detect fainter and smaller objects in space. Using the VLA, astronomers searched for counterparts to a group of 40 Jupiter-mass binary objects known as JuMBOs, previously identified by Pearson and McCaughrean in 2023. Surprisingly, only one of these objects, JuMBO 24, exhibited a radio counterpart.

This remarkable finding challenges existing theories on the formation of stars and planets. The radio luminosity of the two planets in this binary system is significantly higher than that detected in brown dwarfs, which are objects that share similarities with these planets. This abnormality raises new questions and provides exciting research opportunities to further understand the nature of these free-floating planets. While it is possible that the association between infrared and radio signals is coincidental, the team considers this to be highly unlikely, with odds of only 1 in 10,000. This discovery builds upon the previous work of Kao et al., who, in 2018, detected a single planetary-mass system resembling the components of JuMBO 24 using the VLA.

Dr. Luis F. Rodriguez, Professor Emeritus at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who participated in this research, emphasizes the significance of the discovery. “What’s truly remarkable is that these objects could have moons similar to Europa or Enceladus, both of which  have underground oceans of liquid water that could support life”, he stated.

The detection of radio waves originating from both components of a double system of free-floating planets represents a significant milestone in our exploration of the universe. It also presents an exciting opportunity for further research into the potential habitability of planets beyond our solar system. You can read the entire published findings HERE.

About NRAO

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

NRAO Media Contacts

Corrina C. Jaramillo Feldman
Public Information Officer – New Mexico
VLA, VLBA, ngVLA
Tel: +1 505-366-7267
[email protected]

Jill Malusky
NRAO & GBO News & Public Information Manager
Tel: +1 304-460-5608
[email protected]

The post Astronomers Discover Jupiter-sized Objects Drawn into Each Other’s Orbit appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way is spinning so quickly it is warping the spacetime surrounding it into a shape that can look like a football, according to a new study using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). 

Astronomers call this giant black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* for short), which is located about 26,000 light-years away from Earth in the center of our galaxy.

Black holes have two fundamental properties: their mass (how much they weigh) and their spin (how quickly they rotate). Determining either of these two values tells scientists a great deal about any black hole and how it behaves.

A team of astronomers have unveiled a new method for determining the rotational speed of the enigmatic black hole, Sgr A*. By combining X-ray and radio data, the team observed the movement of surrounding material and deduced the angular velocity of Sgr A*. Astonishingly, their findings revealed that Sgr A* spins at a rate reaching approximately 60% of the maximum possible value. This boundary is determined by the fundamental constraint that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The team’s discovery challenges previous estimates made by astronomers, which spanned from Sgr A* being stationary to rotating at nearly the fastest rate conceivable. This groundbreaking research sheds new light on the dynamic nature of black holes and opens up exciting avenues for further exploration into their mysteries.

The paper describing these results led by Ruth Daly is published in the January 2024 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and appears online at https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024MNRAS.527..428D/abstract. 

“Our work may help settle the question of how fast our galaxy’s supermassive black hole is spinning,” said Ruth Daly of Penn State University, who is the lead author on the new study. “Our results indicate that Sgr A* is spinning very rapidly, which is interesting and has far reaching implications..” This release was originally shared by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Read the full release HERE.

About Chandra

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

About NRAO

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

NRAO Media Contact

Corrina C. Jaramillo Feldman
Public Information Officer – New Mexico
VLA, VLBA, ngVLA
Tel: +1 505-366-7267
[email protected]

The post Telescopes Show the Milky Way’s Black Hole is Ready for a Kick appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has just received a “heart transplant,” high in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. ALMA, the most complex astronomical observatory ever built on Earth, installed a new hydrogen maser. Funded by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), this upgrade marks an essential investment, setting a new standard in reliability for observations.

A maser is an advanced atomic clock that uses the properties of the hydrogen atom to provide an extremely precise and stable frequency reference. This precision is crucial for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations, enabling the synchronization of cosmic signals received by networks of telescopes spread across the globe. A brief, but fascinating, video brings together many voices across the international ALMA team to share the process of the replacement and its importance,

The new maser, now the heartbeat of ALMA’s operations, ensures a high level of accuracy essential for detailed explorations of the Universe. ALMA is a cornerstone of international astronomy as part of the Event Horizon Telescope, and other Very Long Baseline Interferometry studies, most famously revealing the first image of black hole M87* and Sagittarius A*, at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy.

The integration of the new maser into the ALMA Array was aided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory. The original maser remains operating as a backup, strengthening ALMA’s resilience against potential system failures and ensuring reliable, continuous astronomical research. This upgrade solidifies ALMA’s position at the forefront of astronomical research, enabling astronomers to uncover more mysteries of the Universe with greater accuracy and reliability.

About ALMA & NRAO

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.

NRAO is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

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