The Board of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)— an international collaboration in which the National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a partner— has approved multi-million dollar upgrades for the development of a second-generation correlator and a digital transmission system (DTS). As part of the ALMA2030 Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade, these projects aim to double and eventually quadruple the correlated bandwidth of the array.

Central to the ALMA2030 upgrades, the Second Generation ALMA Correlator— the “brain” of the array— is a type of supercomputer that combines the individual signals from each antenna to create exquisite images of astronomical objects. The new correlator will improve the current one’s already highly refined ability to process and combine data and increase the sensitivity of astronomical images and the flexibility of making them.

“While ALMA’s current correlators are already some of the fastest supercomputing signal processors in the world, the Second Generation Correlator will be capable of producing 200, and ultimately 400 times more data per second along with an increased sensitivity equivalent to adding more than 1000 hours of observing time per year,” said Crystal Brogan, ALMA-North America Program Scientist and the ALMA Development Program Coordinator at NRAO. “The initial expansion in system bandwidth by a factor of two, and eventually four, will enhance the science throughput for all areas of ALMA science from the most distant galaxies to our Solar System. The Second Generation ALMA Correlator will also enable high spectral resolution at wide bandwidth for the first time – affording an unprecedented view of the kinematics and chemistry of star and planet formation.”

The $36 million project will take approximately six years to complete and combines the hardware and firmware expertise of scientists and engineers at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the software expertise of NRAO’s Data Management and Software Department. Additionally, experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory will be assisting with the implementation and testing of the Phased Array aspects of the new correlator. The project is led by the NRAO’s North American ALMA Department.

“The new correlator provides the foundation for the rest of the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU).  With the project’s approval, the WSU has moved from plans to construction. The international ALMA collaboration will work together to deliver this project, and by the end of this decade, we’ll see the results in amazing new science,” said Phil Jewell, Director for ALMA-North America.

The upgraded Digital Transmission System (DTS)— a collaboration between NRAO’s Central Development Laboratory (CDL) and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), also a partner in ALMA— will act as an expanded information highway, increasing the amount of data that can travel from each of ALMA’s upgraded receivers to the upgraded correlator by a factor of eight.

“The DTS is an exciting collaboration with our colleagues at NAOJ and will provide a higher-capacity digital path for data from the upgraded receivers to the ALMA Talon Central Signal Processor. The project leverages our expertise in photonics and digital signal processing and will be built using state-of-the-art hardware, enabling a wide range of improvements,” said Bert Hawkins, Director of CDL.

Alvaro Gonzalez, East Asia ALMA Program Manager at NAOJ added, “The new ALMA2030 DTS will be based on the latest high-speed data-transmission standards and use commercially available technology as much as possible. As a collaboration between NAOJ and NRAO, we will combine the best aspects of technology and know-how from the two partners. The DTS will be designed to support the goal of 4 times increase of instantaneous bandwidth of ALMA receivers and also the eventual increase of the distance between antennas, up to around 75 km, for improved angular resolution.”

Phase 1 of the DTS upgrade— approved for ~US$800,000— aims to produce a prototype of the new end-to-end system by 2026 and will be followed by a Phase 2 production proposal.

NRAO’s and NA ALMA’s central role in the ALMA2030 upgrades extends beyond the correlator and DTS and includes the conversion of the Operations Support Facility to house and operate the new correlator, additional infrastructure and support systems, and receiver upgrades. CDL has already commenced work to upgrade ALMA’s 1.3mm (Band 6) receivers after receiving approval and Phase 1 funding in late 2021. The Band 6v2 receiver prototype is expected in 2025, allowing for the build-out of an entirely upgraded set of Band 6 receivers for ALMA that will increase the quantity and quality of science measured in wavelengths between 1.4mm and 1.1mm.

Upon completion, ALMA2030 will realize upgrades to most ALMA receivers resulting in increased bandwidth and sensitivity, complete replacement of the ALMA digital signal chain— digitizer, digital transmission system, and correlator— and installation of new fiber cables connecting ALMA’s Operations Site to its Operations Support Facility, and develop associated control, data acquisition, and data processing software.

“An already immensely powerful observatory, ALMA has uncovered the secrets of protoplanetary disks and the unseen gas and dust that drives the formation of stars, planets, and galaxies. These upgrades will help us see further than ever before and process this information faster and more clearly,” said NRAO Director Tony Beasley. “With each upgrade, we are quite literally building the future of radio astronomy.”

ALMA Director Sean Dougherty added, “This is a very exciting moment for ALMA. The approval of these two major components of the Wide-Band Sensitivity Upgrade— a new data transmission system and future-forward correlator— will extend the science capabilities of ALMA enormously across all fields of science.”

“This exciting project ensures ALMA continues to operate and provide fantastic observations,” says Joe Pesce, NSF Program Officer for ALMA.  “Improved capabilities enabled by the upgraded correlator will lead to new discoveries about our universe and advancement of science.”

“This project will significantly improve the sensitivity, flexibility and efficiency of the telescope,” said Brent Carlson, Research Officer at the NRC’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Centre and the NRC’s Principal Investigator for the correlator project. “The Second Generation ALMA Correlator will allow much more spectral information from radio sources to be imaged instantaneously, giving scientists access to a colossal amount of new data. The ability to do spectral scans efficiently at such high resolution is unprecedented and will keep ALMA at the forefront of scientific discovery.”

The North American ALMA Development Program is funded by the NSF and the National Research Council of Canada.

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, FRAS
Public Information & News Manager, NRAO
Public Information Officer, ALMA-North America
+1-434-242-9584
aoliver@nrao.edu

The post ALMA Soon to Receive a New Brain appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Astronomers Use a Trick of Nature to 'Weigh' a Dead Star

The Universe is a dynamic and exciting place, with stars, planets, and galaxies being born, dying, and undergoing dramatic changes. In 2022, the telescopes of the National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) revealed fascinating new details about several of these processes, and we’re giving you a taste of the greatest radio astronomy moments of the year.

Gravity wins tug-of-war with turbulence

In the Tarantula Nebula, where hundreds of thousands of stars are being born, ALMA observations showed that gravity can overcome even serious turbulence and keep pulling in material to form new stars.

Writing and narration provided by Phil Plait @Bad Astronomy

Discover more about star formation in the Tarantula Nebula from the original press release: https://public.nrao.edu/news/alma-star-formation-large-magellanic-cloud-30-doradus/

VLBA gives first 3-D view of system with two stars and a planet

Astronomers using the VLBA produced the first-ever full, 3-D view of a binary star system with a planet orbiting one of the stars. The surprising result provided important new insights into the process of planet formation.

Writing and narration provided by Phil Plait @Bad Astronomy

Discover more about the planet in a binary-star system from the original press release: https://public.nrao.edu/news/binary-star-planet-system/

VLA Sky Survey reveals extremely young pulsar

Data from the VLA Sky Survey revealed one of the youngest known neutron stars — possibly as young as only 14 years. The dense remnant of a supernova explosion was revealed when bright radio emission powered by the pulsar’s powerful magnetic field emerged from behind a thick shell of debris from the explosion.

Writing and narration provided by Phil Plait @Bad Astronomy

Discover more about the young pulsar from the original press release: https://public.nrao.edu/news/powerful-pulsar-in-distant-galaxy/

Binary SMBHs

Supermassive black holes can be voracious eaters, and ALMA has shown two of these monsters unexpectedly dining in close proximity as their host galaxies collide.

Writing and narration provided by Phil Plait @Bad Astronomy

Discover more about the pair of supermassive black holes from the original press release: https://public.nrao.edu/news/black-holes-dining-galaxy-merger-alma/ 

The post Science Highlights 2022: Black Holes, Pulsars and Turbulence appeared first on National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

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
aoliver@nrao.edu 

Dave Finley
Public Information Officer, NRAO-VLA, VLBA
Tel: +1 505-241-9210
dfinley@nrao.edu

Jill Malusky
Public Information Officer, Green Bank Observatory
Tel: +1 304-456-5608
jmalusky@nrao.edu

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.

—

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 aoliver@nrao.edu.

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 aoliver@nrao.edu.

—————————

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 aoliver@nrao.edu.

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 jmalusky@nrao.edu.

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 anashe.bandari@nasa.gov.

—

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
aoliver@nrao.edu

Dave Finley
Public Information Officer, NRAO-VLA, VLBA
Tel: +1 505-241-9210
dfinley@nrao.edu

Jill Malusky
Public Information Officer, Green Bank Observatory
Tel: +1 304-456-2236
jmalusky@nrao.edu

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
aoliver@nrao.edu

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
aoliver@nrao.edu

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