Science 2020-2030

Science in the Next Decade

Summer Science Newsletter (Special Edition for June #AAS240)

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Volunteers Build Bird Boxes to Support Local Ecosystems & Citizen Science

This past spring, the Green Bank Observatory and the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area hosted an event with the Deer Creek Defenders 4-H club to build nesting boxes for the Green Bank and Arborvale bird population. This project was managed by AmeriCorp staffer Joe Medica.

*Volunteers and their bird boxes, Joe Medica pictured top right.*

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Green Bank Student Scientists Launch Massive Balloon for Airborne Experiments

Budding scientists in Green Bank, West Virginia will embark on a new mission next week. Students in Ms. Brown’s 7^th grade class have planned extensively to launch a 12-foot diameter, high altitude helium balloon to conduct several scientific experiments.

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Celebrate the Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse at Green Bank Observatory

*A Blood Moon eclipse, image credit NASA.*

Sunday, May 15th a total lunar eclipse of a supermoon will be visible to most of us in West Virginia (weather permitting) between the hours of 10:30pm and 2am Eastern Time. The start and end of the lunar eclipse’s ‘totality’ is between 11:30pm and 1am. No special equipment is needed to view a lunar eclipse, although an optical telescope or binoculars can make it more exciting!

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Future of Earth’s Defense is Ground-based Planetary Radar

Green Bank Telescope will be largest fully steerable antenna in the world capable of transmitting radar signals for research

A new radar system being developed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Green Bank Observatory will transmit powerful radar signals from the Green Bank Telescope (top right panel) and, in this illustration, bounce those signals off the Moon (middle right). The reflected signal can be received by antennas of the Very Long Baseline Array, in various locations across the U.S., Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands (bottom right). The combination of antennas acts as a giant, high-resolution radar imaging system.
Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF.

Powerful radar systems have played a major role in the study of planets, moons, asteroids, and other objects in our Solar System for several decades, and now have a “unique role” to play in planetary defense – “providing protection to the nations of the world from devastating asteroid and comet impacts,” according to the newly released Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) are developing new capabilities for the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) that will make them key instruments for meeting this need.

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Alyssa Goodman, Drake Lecture Award Winner

Award honoring legacy of Frank Drake returns April 23rd to Green Bank Observatory

Alyssa Goodman receives the Drake Lecture Award from GBO Director Jim Jackson. The base of the award was crafted in the GBO machine shop, and the ceramic jug was made by local West Virginia artist Alison Flegel.

Watch a recording of this lecture here.

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