Peculiar Fast Radio Burst Provides Clues to Mysterious Origin

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The Green Bank Telescope was able to observe the directional changes of waves from FRB20190520B as viewed through the lens of a massive star’s atmosphere. Image credit: NSF/GBO/P.Vosteen.

Residing in the heart of a dwarf galaxy four billion light years away is a mysterious cosmological object producing bursts of energy that only last a few milliseconds. New research about this Fast Radio Burst (FRB) has revealed a rarely seen astronomical environment around its source, where magnetic fields twist, turn, and undulate over time. This is the first detection of a magnetic field reversal observed from an FRB, and the first time this behavior has been observed in another galaxy.

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NSF Telescopes Image M87’s Supermassive Black Hole and Massive Jet Together for the First Time

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Observations also revealed that the supermassive black hole’s ring is bigger than imagined

Scientists observing the compact radio core of M87 have discovered new details about the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. In this artist’s conception, the black hole’s massive jet is seen rising up from the center of the black hole. The jet was born from energy created by the magnetic fields surrounding the spinning core of the black hole and winds rising up from the black hole’s accretion disk. The observations represent the first time that the jet and the black hole have been imaged together, giving scientists new context into the compact radio core of M87. These observations also revealed that the black hole’s ring is 50% larger than previously believed. Credit: S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

Scientists studying the supermassive black hole at the heart of the M87 galaxy have revealed the origins of the monster’s powerful jet and imaged the jet and its source together for the first time. What’s more, the observations have revealed that the black hole’s ring is much larger than scientists previously believed. The observations published today in Nature.

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West Virginia, Green Bank Observatory, Revitalize Workforce Through Apprenticeships

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More and more students are turning away from college and toward apprenticeships.

Machinist apprentice Priscilla Grimes operates a lathe in the Mechanical Division of the Green Bank Observatory. The Green Bank apprenticeship program was developed by the Robert C. Byrd Institute at Marshall University to assist the observatory in passing on the skills of experienced employees to a new generation of workers.

Today, the nation’s colleges and universities enroll about 15 million undergraduate students, while companies employ about 800,000 apprentices. But federal data shows that in the past decade college enrollment has declined by about 15 percent, while the number of apprentices has increased by more than 50 percent.

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The Astrophotography of West Virginia’s Dave Green

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“I’m a coal miner… with a camera.”

Story and photos by Dave Green

The 45-foot telescope, photo credit Dave Green.
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Can We Modernize the National Radio Quiet Zone?

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A new Request for Information (RFI) has been issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF), taking first steps to develop effective strategies for improving communications in the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ). 

The Green Bank Observatory campus. Photo credit Jay Young.
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