Towards the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, in the constellation Sagittarius, astronomers have discovered  10 monstrous neutron stars. These particular stars, called pulsars, reside together in globular cluster Terzan 5, a crowded home for hundreds of thousands of different types of stars. Pulsars are millions (or even billions) of times more dense than other stars and rotate rapidly, emitting bright pulses of light from their strong magnetic fields, making them a beacon for astronomers to find. In one of the most jam-packed places in our Milky Way, many pulsars in Terzan 5 have evolved into bizarre and eccentric forms.

Astronomers already knew that 39 pulsars call Terzan 5 home. With the teamwork of the U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope (NSF GBT) and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s MeerKAT Telescope, ten more have been added to the count. “It’s very unusual to find exotic new pulsars. But what’s really exciting is the wide variety of such weirdos in a single cluster,” shared Scott Ransom, a scientist with the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO). The discoveries were made by an international team of astronomers from NSF NRAO, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) (AEI), and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

The Meerkat Telescope was able to determine the rough location of each pulsar by tracking and timing how quickly they rotate, matched against twenty years of Terzan 5 observations taken by the NSF GBT, which revealed the bizarre and eccentric details of these stars. “Without the NSF Green Bank Telescope’s archive, we wouldn’t have been able to characterize these pulsars and understand their astrophysics,” adds Ransom. The archival NSF GBT data allowed astronomers to pinpoint the pulsars’ position on the sky, measure their specific movements, and see how their orbits changed over time.

Among the discoveries, astronomers saw two likely neutron stars pulled into each other’s orbit as a binary system. Out of 3,600 known pulsars in the Galaxy, only 20 have been identified as double neutron-star binaries. When pulsars pair off in binaries, the gravitational pull from one to the other can steal material and energy, causing one to spin even faster, becoming a millisecond pulsar. This pair could be a record breaker, with a new contender for fastest spinning pulsar in a double neutron-star system, and the longest orbit of its kind. The current record holder for fastest spinning pulsar already resides in Terzan 5. Only future observations will reveal the truth.

Astronomers also observed three new rare pulsar “spider” binary systems (in addition to five already known in the cluster) called Redbacks or Black Widows, depending on the types of companion stars that they have. A companion star falls into the orbit of a spider pulsar, where a web of plasma fills the space between the two (caused by outflows from the companion star due to the pulsar’s energy) slowly dissolving the companion over time.

The discovery of these strange pulsars allows scientists to better understand globular clusters, neutron stars, and even test Einstein’s theory of general relativity, along with expanding what is known about pulsar categories. The research team is already making plans to find even more in Terzan 5, with the support of volunteers. Citizen scientists who’d like to share in the excitement of this discovery can help at Einstein@Home. This project, led by scientists at AEI, has already discovered more than 90 new neutron stars.

The Green Bank Observatory, home of the GBT, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory are major facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation and are operated by Associated Universities, Inc.

This research was shared in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Read more at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute.)

Read more at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

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Media contacts:

Jill Malusky, NRAO & GBO News & Public Information Manager jmalusky@nrao.edu

Benjamin Knispel, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) benjamin.knispel@aei.mpg.de

The post Telescope Tag-Team Discovers Galactic Cluster’s Bizarre Secrets appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

A team of astronomers has found a new tool to discover pulsars. Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that blast out pulses of radiation at regular intervals ranging from seconds to milliseconds. These pulses help scientists learn more about the Universe, to test the curve of space time around black holes, detect gravitational waves, and probe the interstellar medium. 

This search combined observations from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the VLA Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (VLITE), and archival data from the NSF Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) collaborated to develop VLITE. This experiment allows researchers to continually monitor the sky at low radio frequencies by piggybacking VLITE observations on nearly all observations using the VLA’s higher frequency receivers. 

“It was exciting so early in my career to see a speculative project work out so successfully,” said Amaris McCarver, an undergraduate student at Texas Tech University, who will be the lead author on a paper submitted to the Astrophysical Journal, reporting these results.

“We used the VLITE data to search for candidate pulsars. After identifying the best candidate, GLIMPSE-C01, we reprocessed archival GBT pulsar data with new algorithms to confirm the discovery of a millisecond pulsar. After that, we followed up with new VLA observations to confirm its location and properties,” shares Tracy E. Clarke, an astronomer who coordinates VLITE for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). You can read the NRL press release on this science HERE.

“Tracy and I had been talking about doing this project for many years.  Amaris started working with me during the academic year, doing similar searches on some all-sky surveys at higher radio frequency, and she immediately distinguished herself as an excellent research student, so I referred her to the NRL internship program, where she then conducted this work,” said Tom Maccarone, a professor at Texas Tech University.

By cross-matching existing all-sky catalogs at different wavelengths—rather than spending hours of costly observing that might not even find a pulsar—astronomers were able to identify strong pulsar candidates, one of which was confirmed by re-processing archival data using modern software. “Time and time again, new discoveries are being made from archival data. The value of these astronomical data archives couldn’t be more important,” adds Scott Ransom, an NRAO scientist who focuses on pulsar research. Since pulsar search data is so voluminous, the Green Bank staff did not archive those types of data for at least the first 15 years of GBT operations. This particular observation was saved on a raw hard-disk drive by Scott Ransom and stored on a shelf in his office. In recent years, the huge improvements in storage capacity have enabled the Green Bank Observatory to archive essentially all of the potentially priceless data from the GBT, and make them available to all researchers.

“This research shows we can use measures of radio brightness at different frequencies to find new pulsars efficiently, and that available sky surveys combined with VLITE mean those measurements are essentially always available. This opens the door to a new era of searches for highly dispersed and highly accelerated pulsars,” adds Clarke.

Pulsar searches are inherently less sensitive to the most exotic types of pulsars. These can be the fastest ones, the ones deepest in the Galactic Plane, and the ones in the shortest period binaries. The capabilities of VLITE, and improved algorithms, will allow “old” data to yield new discoveries. “We can revisit previous searches with better tools to discover these hard-to-find gems in the pulsar population,” adds Clarke. 

About NRAO & GBO

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) are facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Construction and installation of VLITE was supported by the NRL Sustainment Restoration and Maintenance fund.

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Media Contacts:

Corrina Jaramillo Feldman, Public Information Officer – New Mexico, cfeldman@nrao.edu 505-366-7267

Jill Malusky, NRAO/GBO News & Public Information Manager, jmalusky@nrao.edu 304-460-5608

The post Old Data, New Tricks Discover Pulsar in Galactic Plane appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

AUI and the U.S National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) have announced the recipients of the 2024 AUI Board of Trustees NAC Bridge Scholarship Award. Now in its fourth year, the scholarship recognizes the academic accomplishments of National Astronomy Consortium (NAC) alums and assists them in the transition from undergraduate to graduate programs.

Amidst the excitement of beginning graduate school and the financial considerations of tuition, there can be additional financial burdens related to moving to a new location and establishing a new residence. The AUI Board of Trustees established the new NAC scholarship award in 2021 to help NAC alums manage these expenses during the transition to the next phase of their academic careers.

This year, three NAC alums have accepted offers from outstanding graduate programs. Each will receive a $5,000 AUI Board of Trustees NAC Bridge Scholarship Award, with AUI and NSF NRAO’s congratulations and best wishes for a smooth start to an exciting new chapter of their lives.

2024 Recipients of the NAC Bridge Scholarship Award

• Nicolas McMahon, Rochester Institute of Technology, Astrophysical Sciences and Technology
• Daniel Gallego, University of Strasbourg, Quantum Science & Nanomaterials
• Carlos Ortiz Quintana, University of Central Florida, Planetary Sciences

NAC is a competitive program offering summer astronomy research internships to undergraduates and professional development programming and research opportunities throughout the academic careers of NAC alumni. NAC’s goal is to increase the number of students, often underserved by the traditional academic pipeline, in STEM and STEM careers, by creating a diverse network of support for their academic and professional careers from an early stage.

“Generous funding from NAC allowed me to go to three academic conferences in one semester to share my research and build my science communication skills,” said Nicolas McMahon. “I wholeheartedly believe that my NAC experience was instrumental in helping me gain admission to the PhD program, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the endless support of my NAC and STScI mentors.”

A key component of the NAC program has been the long-term sustained engagement of alums and, perhaps most importantly, the peer and near-peer support that NAC alums offer to each other. “The doors that NAC opened for me also helped me solidify my desire to pursue graduate studies in astrophysics,” said Daniel Gallego. “I truly believe my acceptance into the NAC program was a milestone in my academic career.”

Carlos Ortiz Quintana agrees. “The NAC was an incredible experience that equipped me with the essential tools for academic and professional success in a department with limited opportunities in astronomy.”

NSF NRAO and AUI appreciate the commitment that NAC alums have to each other and to their own professional journeys, and are proud of their individual and collective accomplishments.

About NAC

National Astronomy Consortium (NAC) is a program of the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 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 under-served 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 AUI and the NSF NRAO Announce the Recipients of the 2024 AUI Board of Trustees NAC Bridge Scholarship Award appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

How do supermassive black holes get so big? An international team of astronomers, including scientists at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) have discovered a powerful, rotating, magnetic wind that they believe is helping a galaxy’s central supermassive black hole to grow.

Most galaxies, including our own Milky Way, have a supermassive black hole at their center. How these black holes grow remains a mystery to astronomers. A team of scientists chose to study the relatively nearby galaxy ESO320-G030, only 120 million light years away from Earth. This galaxy is very active, forming stars ten times as fast as our own Milky Way.

Astronomers measured light from molecules carried by winds from the galaxy’s core, hoping to trace their origin from the supermassive black hole. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)  was used to study this light, from the wavelengths of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) molecules, hidden within thick layers of dust and gas.

ALMA was able to see details and trace movements in the gas, and discovered patterns that suggest the presence of a magnetized, rotating wind. While other winds and jets in the center of galaxies push material away from their core, astronomers believe this newly discovered wind feeds the black hole to help it grow.

This process is similar to a much smaller-scale environment in space: the swirls of gas and dust that lead to the birth of new stars and planets.“It is well-established that stars, in the first stages of their evolution, grow with the help of rotating winds – accelerated by magnetic fields, just like the wind in this galaxy. Our observations show that supermassive black holes and tiny stars can grow by similar processes, but on very different scales”, says Mark Gorski, lead author of this research, and a fellow with the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics at Northwestern University, and also affiliated with the Department of Space, Earth and Environment at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden.)

Gorski, a frequent ALMA user, studies the evolution of stars and galaxies using astrochemistry. Earlier in his astronomy career, he was also a Reber Fellow with NSF NRAO, based at the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array.

This press release was adapted from news shared by the Chalmers University of Technology. 

This news was also shared by Northwestern University. 

This research was published in the journal of Astronomy & Astrophysics.

About ALMA

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of 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 National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan 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.

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.

The post Supermassive Black Hole Appears to Grow Like a Baby Star appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

In Washington, D.C. June 17-21, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) will hold its International Microwave Symposium (IMS). IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity, a value shared by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO).

NSF NRAO and the Central Development Laboratory (CDL) will showcase the latest developments in radio instrumentation technology at the symposium. You can learn more about these facilities and the latest developments in R&D instrumentation by visiting the NRAO/CDL table in the exhibit hall.

NSF NRAO scientist Marian Pospieszalski will be awarded the 2024 Microwave Pioneer Award. This award recognizes an individual or team for outstanding and pioneering technical contributions that advanced microwave theory and techniques, which must be described in an archival paper published at least 20 years prior to the year of the award. The award cites his 1989 paper on “Modeling of noise parameters of MESFETs and MODFETs and their frequency and temperature dependence” which appeared in the journal, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

Pospieszalski received his Masters and Doctoral of Science degrees in electrical engineering from the Warsaw Institute of Technology (Poland). Over his impressive career he has held positions with the Institute of Electronics Fundamentals at the Warsaw University of Technology, the Electronics Research Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley, NSF NRAO, and the University of Virginia. He has been at the CDL since 1984.

The post Engineers Descend upon DC for International Microwave Symposium, NRAO Will Exhibit, Scientist to Receive Pioneer Award appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Most of the Universe is invisible to the human eye. The building blocks of stars are only revealed in wavelengths that are outside of the visible spectrum. Astronomers recently used two very different, and very powerful, telescopes to discover twin disks—and twin parallel jets—erupting from young stars in a multiple star system. This discovery was unexpected, and unprecedented, given the age, size, and chemical makeup of the stars, disks, and jets. Their location in a known, well-studied part of the Universe adds to the thrill.

Observations from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NRAO) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) were combined for this research.

ALMA and JWST’s MIRI observe very different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Using them together allowed astronomers to discover these twins, hidden in radio and infrared wavelengths in star system WL20, located in the nearby rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud complex, over 400 light years away from the Earth’s Solar System.

“What we discovered was absolutely wild,” shares astronomer Mary Barsony, “We’ve known about star system WL20 for a long time. But what caught our attention is that one of the stars in the system appeared much younger than the rest. Using MIRI and ALMA together, we actually saw that this ONE star was TWO stars right next to each other. Each of these stars was surrounded by a disk, and each disc was emitting jets parallel to the other.”

ALMA spotted the discs, while MIRI found the jets. Co-author Valentin J.M. Le Gouellec of NASA-ARC retrieved and reduced ALMA archival data to reveal the discs’ composition, while Lukasz Tychoniec of Leiden Observatory provided high-resolution images, revealing the discs massive size, approximately 100 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Another co-author, Martijn L. van Gelder, provided resources to process the data collected by MIRI, revealing the chemical makeup of the jets.

Adds Barsony, “So if it weren’t for MIRI, we wouldn’t even know that these jets existed, which is amazing.” ALMA’s high resolution observations of the disks surrounding the two newly observed stars revealed the disks’ structure, as Barsony explains,“Someone looking at this ALMA data not knowing there were twin jets would think, oh, it’s a large edge on disk with a central hole, instead of two edge on disks and two jets. That’s pretty remarkable.”

Another remarkable thing about this discovery is that it may never have had the opportunity to happen. Explains JPL scientist Michael Ressler, “A lot of the research about binary protostars focuses on a few nearby star forming regions. I had been awarded some observing time of my own with JWST, and I chose to split it into a few small projects. For one project, I decided to study binaries in the Perseus star forming region. However, I had been studying WL20, which is in the rho Ophiuchus region in nearly the opposite part of the sky, for nearly 30 years, and I thought, ‘why not sneak it in? I’m never going to get another chance, even if it doesn’t quite fit with the others.’ We had a very fortunate accident with what we found, and the results are stunning.”

By combining multi-wavelength data from ALMA and JWST, these new findings shed light on the complex processes involved in the formation of multiple star systems. Astronomers plan to utilize ALMA’s future upgraded capabilities, like the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade, to continue unraveling the mysteries surrounding the birth of stars and planetary systems.

About ALMA & NRAO

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Southern Observatory (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 National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan 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 NRAO is a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

About JWST

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

The post It’s Twins! Astronomers Discover Parallel Disks and Jets Erupting From a Pair of Young Stars appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

At the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), researchers unveiled groundbreaking findings from a pioneering high-angular resolution program that sheds new light on the process of planet formation in circumstellar disks around young stars in binary systems. Leveraging the unparalleled capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and near-infrared, component-resolved spectroscopy at the Keck II 10-meter telescope, the study offers a transformative understanding of the conditions that nurture or inhibit planet formation.

Primordial disks of gas and dust around young stars have long been recognized as the sites of planet formation. However, the conditions that ensure disk lifetimes adequate for planet formation, and the triggers that lead to their early disk dissipation, have remained elusive. Circumstellar disks in pre-main sequence binary systems provide a unique and ideal laboratory to explore these questions. By analyzing disk properties—such as size, substructure, and inclination—in relation to stellar characteristics like rotation speed and magnetic field strength, researchers are beginning to decode the complex interplay that governs these stellar environments. Binary and multiple star systems are extremely common, underscoring the significance of their study.

This innovative research combines millimeter imaging of circumstellar disks with ALMA and high-resolution spectroscopy of young stars using Keck with the NIRSPEC spectrometer. By focusing on binaries with relatively well-determined orbits, the team can control for orbital parameters and highlight critical relationships between the properties of circumstellar disks and their host stars.

The study’s detailed examination of the DF Tau binary, quasi-twin stars with an average separation of 14 astronomical units (where 1 au equals the Earth-Sun distance) in an elongated orbit, reveals cool dust in two circumstellar disks detected by ALMA. One disk is magnetically locked to its central star and is actively accreting material onto the star, while the inner region of the other disk appears to have eroded and decoupled from its rapidly rotating central star, suggesting a potential link between stellar rotation, magnetic disk locking, and early disk dissipation. Misalignments between DF Tau’s orbit, circumstellar disks, and stellar inclinations may impact the disk evolution.

In contrast, another young star twin, FO Tau, a 22 au binary in a more circular orbit, displays ALMA-detected disks well-aligned with the binary orbit. Both components exhibit modest rotation speeds and appear to be magnetically locked to their disks. These observations reveal similar behavior in both disks and stars, providing fresh insights into the dynamics of disk longevity and dissipation.

High-angular resolution observations from ALMA have shown intricate disk sub-structures, including spiral patterns, gaps, and ring formations around single stars and wide binary companions. Although disk substructures are as yet unresolved in DF Tau and FO Tau, the ability to determine bulk disk properties in close binary systems marks a significant advance in our understanding of planet formation environments.

Supported in part by NSF awards AST-1313399 and AST-2109179, this research reveals unique progress in the field of astronomy. The insights gained not only enhance our comprehension of circumstellar disk dynamics but also pave the way for future discoveries in the mechanisms of planet formation.

This work was also supported by a NASA Keck PI Data Award, administered by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory from telescope time allocated to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through the agency’s scientific partnership with the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain.

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 National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan 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.

For Press & Media Inquiries Contact:

Corrina Jaramillo Feldman
Public Information Officer – New Mexico
VLA, VLBA, ngVLA
cfeldman@nrao.edu
505-366-7267

The post ALMA Observations Reveal New Insights into Planet Formation in Binary Star Systems appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) will hold its 244th Meeting June 9 – 13 in Madison, Wisconsin. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and Green Bank Observatory (GBO) will be there to present some amazing research and resources. Science from NRAO and GBO instruments will be featured in 40 presentations.

On Sunday, June 9th, check out the NRAO and GBO exhibits and opening reception in the Exhibit Hall. We will be talking about ngVLA, the ALMA WSU, VLBA, GBO, Radar, VLA, and student programs at the exhibit. You might even pick up some NRAO/GBO giveaways!

Several NRAO and GBO instruments are featured in presentations at several press conferences. On Monday at 10:15 am in Press Room F, Dr. Lisa Prato from Lowell Observatory will present “Should I Stay or Should I Go: What Governs Circumstellar Disk Lifetimes,” featuring exciting new science from ALMA. 

Tuesday will be a busy day when Dr. Juergen Ott will discuss “CARTA: The Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy” at 9:30 am in Exhibit Hall A, and at 10:00 am there will be a special session on “SuperKnova: Broadening Participation in STEM through E-Learning” in Ballroom A. Meanwhile, at 10:15 am Dr. Toney Minter of GBO will share an unexpected discovery using the GBT telescope, “Dust-free Clouds in the Galactic Disk” in Press Room F.

On Wednesday, June 12th, independent astronomer Dr. Mary Barsony and Dr. Mike Ressler of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will present the exciting discovery of “Twin Jets and Disks: JWST MIRI and ALMA Discoveries” at 10:15 am in Press Room F.

Finally, NRAO and GBO will be part of a closing reception in the Exhibit Hall on June 13th. It’s your last chance to see our resources, and perhaps snag some swag before you head home!

You can follow the social media feeds of NRAO (FB, X, LinkedIn, Instagram) and GBO (FB, X, LinkedIn, Instagram) to learn about the latest events happening at the conference.

NRAO Media Contacts

Jill Malusky
Public Information Officer, NRAO/GBO
Tel: +1 304-456-2236
jmalusky@nrao.edu

Corrina C. Jaramillo Feldman
Public Information Officer, ngVLA
Tel: +1 575-842-9366
cfeldman@nrao.edu

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.

About Green Bank Observatory

The Green Bank Observatory (GBO) 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 world.

The post NRAO and GBO Have Lots to Share at AAS 244 appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

For centuries, humans have looked to the skies to solve the mysteries of the Universe. By measuring radio waves, the electromagnetic radiation from objects in outer space, astronomers have gained great insight into how stars and planets form, the composition of black holes, and the evolution of the Universe itself. Since the discovery of X-ray imaging, an ever-expanding range of medical imaging methods have revolutionized the practice of medicine, noninvasively enabling better diagnoses and more effective treatments. Despite the differences in the nature and scale of medical and astronomical imaging, studying the Universe, and the human body, have more in common than one might think.

Exploring the ongoing potential of this overlap, experts from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the medical imaging field presented to an audience of around 2,000 at the prestigious International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Conference in Singapore. Their talk, “From Innerspace to Outer Space: How? A Point-Counterpoint Exchange and Discussion,” highlighted the cross-section between radio astronomy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Urvashi Rau, an NRAO scientist, and Klaas Pruessman, a professor and institute leader with ETH Zurich, explored the similarities, unique challenges, and solutions bridging astronomical and medical imaging.

“Astronomy has a history of contributing technology and techniques to medical imaging that have proven to be valuable for human health,” says Joe Pesce, NSF program director for the NRAO. “This ongoing effort by NRAO promises to add to that legacy — there is significant potential for future cross-disciplinary impacts inspired by cutting-edge radio astronomy.”

The imaging challenges faced by medicine and astronomy are surprisingly similar. Over the past 50 years, both fields have evolved nearly independently, sometimes solving the same problem at different times.   For example, over the past two decades, advances in medical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), through improvements in compressed sensing and parallel imaging, have significantly reduced scan time while maintaining image quality.  It turns out that these same concepts have been fundamental to imaging in radio astronomy for at least a decade longer than in medical imaging, with radio telescope arrays (interferometers) like NRAO’s Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA).  While a few ideas have successfully been adopted across fields, it is only recently that scientists have intentionally begun to communicate. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are now making their way into both fields, with the medical imaging community being far ahead of radio astronomy and it promises to be a very exciting time to share lessons learned.

Several departments at NRAO have been exploring the adaptation and use of astronomy specific technology outside of observatories for some time. NRAO’s Technology Transfer Office and Algorithm R&D Group have hosted the Cells to Galaxies initiative with conferences in 2019 and 2021, and an online lecture series in 2020 to collaborate on similarities in imaging techniques across the two fields. NRAO and NYU have since arranged cross-disciplinary educational presentations as part of the NRAO colloquium series, the i2i conference in 2023, and this year at the ISMRM. The Algorithm R&D Group also recently launched project LibRA, to make radio astronomy algorithms available, and enable cross-discipline research and development, for indirect imaging including MRI and ultrasound.

“NRAO, with the support of the U.S. National Science Foundation and oversight by Associated Universities, Inc., is excited to pursue all the opportunities that come from breaking unnecessary boundaries between astronomy, other areas of science, medicine, and business. There is so much potential that can come from all of us working together,” explains Tony Beasley, Director of the NRAO.

Rau has experience in breaking down boundaries. Starting from a scientific computing background and crafting a research career in radio astronomy, she has directly experienced both the need and benefits of communicating across boundaries and developing shared perspectives. She encourages students interested in similar work to approach their careers with curiosity and creativity, and to consider places like the NRAO that have a long history of supporting interdisciplinary work.

As a scientist at NRAO, Rau specializes in algorithms for radio interferometric image reconstruction and interference mitigation. She currently leads the international team of scientists and software engineers who develop the Common Astronomy Software Applications package used for data analysis with ALMA and the VLA. Rau joined the NRAO scientific staff in 2010 after completing a PhD with Tim Cornwell (NRAO/CSIRO/SKA) and previously worked in the NRAO Algorithm R&D Group.

Looking forward, as both fields continue to explore new frontiers, there will always be potential for sharing expertise and lessons learned. As Rau stated at a 2023 event, the bigger questions of how to “see” (in astronomy or medicine) comes down to very similar physical and mathematical principles, “these fields have arrived at almost a common problem from different angles, which means each field has explored some angle in much more depth than others, so there’s a lot to share.”

The post Invisible Realms Revealed: Radio Technology Expands Frontiers of Astronomy and Medicine appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

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