Tag: Radio Astronomy
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NASA awards funds to study deep-space interferometer and other far-out ideas
This collage highlights several concepts proposed by 2024 NIAC Phase I awardees, including miniaturized interstellar spacecraft, a Venus glider, a water detoxifier for Mars, a solar-system-scale interferometer and an electric aircraft flying above Mars. (NASA Illustration) A proposal to build a far-flung set of radio antennas to measure the cosmos is one of 13 far-out…
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Radio astronomers are looking to the future as satellite mega-constellations light up the sky
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sends 47 Starlink satellites into orbit from Kennedy Space Center. (SpaceX Photo) There are plenty of astronomers who worry that the thousands of satellites that are being launched into low Earth orbit for global broadband internet access will cast a pall over their scientific observations. But Tony Beasley, director of…
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Arecibo Observatory faces demolition after cable failures
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The damaged dish at Arecibo Observatory. Credit: University of Central Florida After withstanding hurricanes and earthquakes, playing central roles in movies like “GoldenEye” and “Contact,” Puerto Rico’s famed Arecibo Observatory, once the largest radio telescope in the world, will be demolished because of cable failures that left its…
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SETI and other alien-hunting strategies are dealing with new tools — and new troubles
Two PANOSETI telescopes are installed in the recently renovated Astrograph Dome at the Lick Observatory in California. PANOSETI will use a configuration of many SETI telescopes to allow simultaneous monitoring of the entire observable sky. (© Laurie Hatch Photo via UCSD) The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, better known as SETI, is taking advantage of a…
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Scientists unveil Event Horizon Telescope’s first image of a galaxy’s monster black hole
This image from the Event Horizon Telescope shows the supermassive black hole in the elliptical galaxy M87, surrounded by superheated material. (EHT Collaboration) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Scientists today shared the first picture to show the immediate surroundings of a galaxy’s supermassive black hole, captured by a network of radio telescopes that adds up to what…
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Canadian radio telescope takes the search for puzzling fast radio bursts into a new era
One of the radio antennas of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, spreads out beneath the night sky near Penticton, B.C. (CHIME Photo) A new radio telescope in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley has detected 13 new sources of mysterious extragalactic phenomena known as fast radio bursts, including the second known source of repeated…
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44 years after its first message to aliens, Arecibo Observatory calls for follow-up
A global contest will give the 1974 Arecibo Message a reboot. (Arecibo Observatory Illustration) The Arecibo Observatory today kicked off a student-focused competition to design a new message to beam to extraterrestrials, 44 years to the day since the first deliberate message was sent out from Arecibo’s 1,000-foot-wide radio telescope. “Our society and our technology…
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University of Central Florida is taking charge of gigantic Arecibo radio telescope
The Arecibo Observatory has a 1,000-foot-wide radio dish built into Puerto Rico’s karst terrain. (NAIC Arecibo Observatory / NSF Photo) The 1,000-foot Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, made famous by such movies as “Contact” and the James Bond thriller “Goldeneye,” will be under new management. Today the National Science Foundation announced that the University…
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Astronomers now think they know what that ‘weird’ radio signal from space was
The “Weird! Signal” from Ross 128, detected on May 12, is highlighted by the red box in this chart of frequency signal strength over time. (PHL @ UPR Arecibo) A week ago, astronomers using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico were intrigued about a radio signal they picked up in May, apparently from the…
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Seemingly strange radio signals from a red dwarf star spark interest at Arecibo
The 1,000-foot radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory played a role in the movie “Contact.” (UPRA Photo) The 1,000-foot-wide radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory will take a closer look at a red dwarf star known as Ross 128 after picking up what one astronomer said were “some very peculiar signals” during a 10-minute…