In today’s challenging times, we should all celebrate the positive. The Green Bank Observatory welcomes a new member to its scientific team, Dr. Will Armentrout.
(more…)The Breakthrough Listen Initiative today (Friday, Feb. 14) released data from the most comprehensive survey yet of radio emissions from the plane of the Milky Way galaxy and the region around its central black hole, and it is inviting the public to search the data for signals from intelligent civilizations.
(more…)As the calendar year closes and I look back on the year, three exciting new initiatives at Green Bank really catch my attention. LASSI, a new project funded through the NSF MSIP program, will place a terrestrial laser scanner on the GBT to provide near-real time surface corrections. By project completion in 2022, LASSI will allow for high frequency operations during the daytime, and increase the available high frequency hours on the GBT by 1,000. We are also well into the design phase of a new wideband receiver for the GBT. Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the 0.6 – 2.8 GHz system will double the sensitivity of the GBT for most pulsar timing experiments and will provide wide spectral coverage for other scientific pursuits. Finally, the kick-off meeting for the new First2 STEM Student Success Alliance launched just last week. This alliance, funded by the NSF INCLUDES initiative and led by Green Bank, is comprised of many different organizations across the state of West Virginia and is focused on attracting and retaining rural, first generation students attending West Virginia colleges and universities.
The students and interns have gone home, the cafeteria staff all got to take last weekend off, and last night the temperature here dropped into the 40s (Fahrenheit). Green Bank’s summer is coming to an end. The summer itself was busy in a wonderful way – we had 10 summer students taking part in our REU, PING, and internship programs and an additional 36 other summer staff who worked on everything from painting the GBT to site maintenance and providing tours, food, and rooms to all the visitors on site. We were excited to welcome back the Governor’s STEM Institute to the site this year, as well as holding another PING camp for rising 9th graders, a digital signal processing workshop for high school teachers, Chautauqua Short Courses, Earth-Space science training for West Virginia teachers, StarQuest, SARA, Star Parties, and much more, all activities that kept the staff busy and gave many different groups of students, teachers, and the general public the opportunity to learn more about STEM, astronomy, and exciting new discoveries than they would through just a normal half day visit.
But with summer over we can now start looking forward to the fall and the increase in GBT observing time that comes with the end of summer maintenance and the increase in the number of beautiful, clear nights for high frequency observing. This fall we will be holding another observer training workshop as well as a workshop aimed toward people either planning on in the middle of large surveys on the GBT, looking for ways to optimize the science from these surveys. We are also in the planning stages for a couple of new instruments on the GBT which will increase the telescope’s scientific output at a variety of frequencies, and we will announce those plans as soon as they are fully in place.
Karen O’Neil
Director, Green Bank Observatory
Harnessing the exquisite sensitivity of the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT), astronomers have given one of Einstein’s predictions on gravity its most stringent test yet. By precisely tracking the meanderings of three stars in a single system – two white dwarf stars and one ultra-dense neutron star – the researchers determined that even phenomenally compact neutron stars “fall” in the same manner as their less-dense counterparts, an aspect of nature called the “Strong Equivalence Principle.”
Einstein’s understanding of gravity, as outlined in his general theory of relativity, predicts that all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their mass or composition. This theory has passed test after test here on Earth, but does it still hold true for some of the most massive and dense objects in the known universe, an aspect of nature known as the Strong Equivalence Principle? An international team of astronomers has given this lingering question its most stringent test ever. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, show that Einstein’s insights into gravity still hold sway, even in one of the most extreme scenarios the Universe can offer.
New observations by three of the world‘s largest radio telescopes have revealed that an asteroid discovered last year is actually two objects, each about 3,000 feet (900 meters) in size, orbiting each other.
Near-Earth asteroid 2017 YE5 was discovered with observations provided by the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey on Dec. 21, 2017, but no details about the asteroid’s physical properties were known until the end of June. This is only the fourth “equal mass” binary near-Earth asteroid ever detected, consisting of two objects nearly identical in size, orbiting each other. The new observations provide the most detailed images ever obtained of this type of binary asteroid.
The Green Bank Observatory (GBO), Long Baseline Observatory (LBO), and National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), invite submission of brief Expressions of Interest (EoIs) in Principal Investigator-led “eXtra Large Proposals” (X-Proposals) for the Green Bank Telescope, Very Long Baseline Array, and Very Large Array (VLA) requiring 1000 hours or more of telescope time, and running over multiple semesters (and possibly multiple VLA configurations).
Responses will be used to gauge the level of community interest in such proposals, and their scientific potential. GBO, LBO and NRAO will seek advice from their advisory committees and the joint Time Allocation Committee on the EoIs submitted. It is important to note that the observatories may not proceed to a Call for X-Proposals if, for example, there is judged to be insufficient community interest, scientific merit, or differentiation from Large Proposals.
Expressions of Interest can be submitted using the web form at:
The deadline for submissions is 31 August 2018.
A total of 97 proposals requesting NSF funded “open skies” time were submitted to the Green Bank Observatory’s Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) for semester 18B. Proposals are reviewed on a competitive basis with a panel review system (see Proposal Review System). Below are the statistics by proposal count and hours. The oversubscription is the ratio of the number of submitted proposals to the number of approved proposals. The pressure is the ratio of the requested time to the available time in hours. Here we only include proposals submitted for the 18B semester that have been reviewed by the Green Bank Observatory Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC).
A description of the 18B proposals accepted can be found at 2018B Science Program.
From time to time, we update our list of publications on the GBO Web site. Here are a few listed alphabetically below:
Anderson, L.D. et al. 2018 ApJS, 234, 33.
“A Green Bank Telescope Survey of Large Galactic HII Regions”
Andrews, J.J. et al. 2018 RNAAS, 2, 60.
“A Serendipitous Pulsar Discovery in a Search for a Companion to a Low-mass White Dwarf”
Archibald, A.M. et al. 2018 Nature, 559, 73.
“Universality of free fall from the orbital motion of a pulsar in a stellar triple system”
Arzoumanian, Z. et al. 2018 ApJ, 859, 47.
“The NANOGrav 11-year Data Set: Pulsar-timing Constraints On The Stochastic Gravitational-wave Background”
Bhattacharyya, B.; 2018 MNRAS, 477, 4090.
“A Long-term study of three rotating radio transients”
Bietenholz, M.F. et al. 2018 MNRAS, 475, 1756. SN 2014C:
“VLBI images of a supernova interacting with a circumstellar shell”
Burkhardt, A.M. et al. 2018 MNRAS, 474, 5068.
“Detection of HC$_5$N and HC$_7$N Isotopologues in TMC-1 with the Green Bank Telescope”
A complete list may be found on our Publications Page.
Since its commissioning, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) has been used for a number of surveys that have produced unique data of lasting value. Recent GBT surveys are measuring star-forming molecular clouds in the Gould Belt, searching for new chemical species in Taurus, determining the HI properties of galaxies in the local Universe, determining the distribution of dense gas in galaxies and hot gas in galaxy clusters, searching for H2O megamasers in nuclear disks, and searching for new pulsars toward the north celestial pole.
The Green Bank Observatory (GBO) is interested in assisting its users who perform surveys. The assistance could take many forms: hosting a survey website; arranging team meetings; training student observers; organizing the observing; curating the final data products. To explore the ways that the GBO might assist survey science there will be a workshop “Optimizing Science from Green Bank Telescope Surveys” at the Green Bank Observatory on November 13-14, 2018. The goal of the workshop will be to develop practical policies for GBO support of survey science, but there will also be time set aside for survey team meetings, discussion with GBO staff on technical issues, or any other activity that might benefit current and future GBT surveys.
This workshop is intended for scientists and students who are involved with current or past GBT surveys, or who are planning future GBT surveys.
Logistics at the GBO limit the workshop to about 40 participants. There will be no registration fee, and all on-site expenses, include lodging and meals, will be covered by the GBO.
Green Bank Observatory recently bid a fond farewell to our 2018 class of undergraduate summer students. Eight students, three from the Research Experience for Undergraduate program, four from the Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation program, and one from GBO’s research assistant program, spent the summer living and working at the observatory. Their projects focused on pulsars and fast radio bursts, Galactic and Local Group HI, the conditions for water on Mars, new instrumentation for the GBT, and RFI mitigation. Our students were active members of the observatory community, participating in numerous education and outreach programs and local community events, in addition to their research projects. We look forward to seeing many of them at upcoming professional meetings – including the 2019 Winter AAS meeting, and as observers at the GBT – and wish them success in their future endeavors.
All undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply for the 2019 GBO/NRAO summer student programs. We’ll have an informational table at the 2019 Winter AAS undergraduate student reception and throughout the AAS meeting in the main exhibit hall. Information about 2019 research opportunities will be available in December. The application deadline for the 2019 summer student programs will be Feb 1, 2019. Please visit our summer student program page for additional information on GBO and NRAO student programs.
The Green Bank Observatory is pleased to make the 20 Meter Telescope available for observational projects as part of college and university astronomy courses.
The 20 Meter Telescope was built in Green Bank by RSI, and funded by the US Naval Observatory (USNO) to be part of their Earth orientation observing program, and was operated by USNO from 1995-2000. In 2012, the 20 Meter was refurbished, and joined the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network project operated by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
The NRAO 20-meter telescope is the only radio telescope in the network, providing a unique capability to include radio astronomy as a lab component in university/college astronomy courses. Much of today’s professional astronomical research is multi-wavelength, with scientists using combinations of radio, optical, infrared, or other telescopes to gain a complete picture of the objects they study. The 20 Meter Telescope gives students the same ability and provides them with a better understanding of modern research.
Two receivers formerly used on the 140-foot telescope were revived and adapted for use on the 20 Meter, providing receivers sensitive to 1.3-1.8 GHz, and 8-10 GHz. The 1.3-1.8 GHz receiver is usually on the telescope providing access to studies of neutral hydrogen emission, OH emission as well as continuum observations to a declination limit of about -45 degrees.
Telescope time may be purchased for both educational and research activities. The highly competitive educational rate requires the observations to be used for student training and education as the primary activity. Professors and teachers interested in learning more about educational observing projects can contact Sue Ann Heatherly at sheather–at–nrao.edu. For detailed information regarding the 20 Meter capabilities visit [www.gb.nrao.edu/20m], or contact Frank Ghigo, 20 Meter Scientist, at fghigo–at–nrao.edu.
Family Day and Open House – September 9, 1 – 5 P.M.
GBT Remote Observer Training Workshop – September 17-18
2018 Jansky Lecture by Professor Roger D. Blandford – November 1, 7:00 P.M., in the Science Center Auditorium
Optimizing Science from Green Bank Telescope Surveys – November 13-14
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Spring is here in Green Bank, at least in theory (and if it would stop snowing that would be nice). This means we are now ramping up for our influx of summer staff and the many summer programs which we host on site. From workshops on single dish radio astronomy for undergraduate and graduate students, to REU and internship positions, summer camps for teachers and students, amateur astronomy gatherings, Pulsar Search Collaboratory meetings and training, and the annual Space Race Rumpus bike weekend, there is something for almost everyone going on here during the summer months. During this summer we are also spending time looking toward the future of the Observatory. As you will see in the ASTRO2020 article within this newsletter, we are actively soliciting input from the scientific community to help us shape our future and working with plan for what Green Bank Observatory should look like in 2020 and beyond.
Enjoy Your Spring!
Karen O’Neil
Director
Green Bank Observatory, LBO and NRAO invite submissions of brief Expressions of Interest (EoI) in PI-led “eXtra Large Proposals” (X-Proposals) for the GBT, VLBA and VLA requiring 1000 hours or more of telescope time, and running over multiple semesters (and possibly multiple VLA configurations).
X-Proposals are expected to be resourced by the proposing team. Projects should have extraordinary scientific merit and community legacy value, and will be expected to specify why the science goals cannot be achieved through the standard SRP/TAC process.
Responses will be used to gauge the level of community interest in such proposals, and their scientific potential. The observatories may not proceed to a Call for X-Proposals if, for example, there is judged to be insufficient community interest, scientific merit, or differentiation from Large Proposals.
The call for submission of EoIs is expected to be issued on June 1 with a deadline of July 11.
See the 2016 and 2017 NRAO User Committee reports for further background.
Green Bank Observatory will be welcoming eight summer students in late May as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program and the Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation (PING) program. Students will be joining scientific and engineering staff for 10-12 week research projects and professional development activities. PING students will also spend one week mentoring middle school students participating in a science camp at the observatory. This core component of PING is designed to enhance the participation of underrepresented minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The Green Bank Observatory will also be welcoming a graduate intern working in the digital electronics group.
The Green Bank Observatory kicked off plans for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey at the Winter AAS Meeting in Washington, DC. The effort started with the “Transformative Science for the Next Decade with the Green Bank Observatory” workshop in October 2017, which identified some key science drivers for the Observatory in the next decade. At the AAS meeting, Observatory science staff conducted an information-gathering session along with many of those very important booth and hallway conversations that spark new ideas. In January, we announced the Astro2020 activities for Green Bank with a letter from the Director to all who participated in the workshop and AAS activities to join the Observatory in crafting a series of science white papers in anticipation of a late 2018 call for papers. Science interests have been divided into seven scientific discussion categories and we are establishing teams for each category to identify key science cases and develop papers. The categories are:
Response has been excellent with more than 60 scientists and astronomy professionals signing up for one or more discussion groups. We encourage anyone with interest in future science at Green Bank to join the Astro2020 team. More information about the Astro2020 program and information for interested participants is available at on our ASTRO2020 page.
We hope to hear from you. We will keep you posted on the progress of the teams in upcoming newsletter articles.
Fifty years after pulsar discovery published, massive new data set moves closer to finding very-low-frequency gravitational waves, researchers say.
Gravitational waves are wrinkles in space-time that stretch and squeeze the distances between objects. In 2015, a hundred years after Albert Einstein realized that accelerating massive objects should produce them, these waves were finally detected from black holes with masses roughly 30 times the mass of our sun colliding with each other. However, Einstein’s theory also predicts another kind of wave, one that comes from the mergers of black holes with masses of hundred million times the sun’s.
On the outskirts of our galaxy, a cosmic tug-of-war is unfolding. The players are two dwarf galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, both of which orbit our own Milky Way Galaxy. But as they go around the Milky Way, they are also orbiting each other. Each one tugs at the other, and one of them has pulled out a huge cloud of gas from its companion.
(boven@jive.eu). Satellite image: Blue Marble Next Generation, courtesy of NASA Visible Earth (visibleearth.nasa.gov)
Using the RadioAstron Space VLBI Telescope, an international consortium of astronomers have been able to observe ten times closer to a black hole and see new details of the jet formation region of Perseus A. These observations challenge some of the current models by showing jets much wider than predicted. The Perseus jets are in their infancy and astronomers plan to continue these ultra-high resolution observations to see how the jets ‘mature’ and compare observations of other active Galactic Nuclei to see how these results compare with other black hole jets.
All of this is possible because the combination of the RadioAstron spacecraft’s 10 meter telescope in orbit between the Moon and Earth, combined with multiple ground telescopes, like the GBT which contributed to the Perseus A observation, is able to resolve details beyond the capabilities of any ground-based telescope or array. Whenever the spacecraft is viewable in our hemisphere, the science data and spacecraft data are conveyed back to Russia by way of the 140’ Telescope acting as a data downlink, often as the GBT is simultaneously observing the same source as the spacecraft. Green Bank is pleased to provide the vital data connection that make observations like these possible.
Natalie Butterfield and Will Armentrout join the GBO Scientific staff in August as our newest Post Docs. Natalie has been an NRAO Reber Fellow attending the University of Iowa, and Will is currently finishing his PhD at West Virginia University with advisor, Loren Anderson. We look forward to their arrival this summer.
A complete list of publications are available on this page.
A diverse group of educators from the Green Bank Observatory, West Virginia University Extension Service, Pocahontas County Libraries and the Morgantown Public Library System have teamed up to become The West Virginia Leap into Science State Leadership Team. Out of more than 20 applications from around the nation, West Virginia was one of four state teams selected.
After a two-year hiatus, the Green Bank Observatory successfully competed to host the West Virginia Governor’s STEM Institute (GSI) for the next 3 years. GSI invites students to delve into projects that allow them the time and opportunity to think and work like scientists and engineers, using high level mathematics and thinking skills while employing the latest technology. The Green Bank Observatory program “Investigating the Universe”, is an intensive two-week residential program that engages 60 talented rising ninth graders from all over West Virginia in radio astronomy research. Our program is truly unique in that is embedded within the day-to-day workings of a national research center. Our students will have the opportunity to join our professional STEM community; working in teams with scientist-mentors, rubbing elbows with undergraduate students, and using some of the most sophisticated radio astronomy technology on earth.
The Green Bank Observatory also hosts a similar camp for rising ninth graders with an interest in STEM from all over the nation. PING is free of charge, except for travel (we do offer shuttle service to and from Green Bank from DC, and Charlottesville VA). We encourage applications from youth who are traditionally under-represented in the STEM fields. Please help us spread the word.
More information and application
Andrew Seymour officially joined the GBO Scientific Staff in January, 2018. He has been a visiting scientist in Green Bank since hurricane Maria stopped by the Arecibo Observatory for an unwelcomed visit. We talked to Andrew about his career, life in Puerto Rico and his journey to GBO.
Could you briefly explain your Scientific Career journey?
My career has been a bit of a “random walk”. After earning my undergraduate degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, I decided to go to graduate school for Physics. There I did research with lasers and optics, then moved on to Chaos theory, but eventually did my thesis work on Astronomy and Pulsars. After graduate school, I moved to Puerto Rico to use the William E. Gordon Telescope at Arecibo, famous for being in the films Goldeneye and Contact, to continue my pulsar work. While there, one of the collaborations that I work with found a millisecond extra-galactic radio source known as a Fast Radio Burst. Follow ups on this source have produced numerous events at Arecibo in the past three years. Yet, this is the sole source to date to repeat, and it is still unknown what is causing these events. All of which has kept the collaboration and me pretty busy.
What was the most fun about working at Arecibo?
Since Arecibo is in the tropics, there was a lot of beach fun to be had. Yet I think I had the most fun with my co-workers. It takes a special personality willing to move to Puerto Rico, and we grew to rely on each other. Be it through a hurricane or the uncertainty of a NSF-EIS, we learned to laugh our way through it all.
Were you involved with any of the projects where Arecibo and the GBT work together? If so, could you talk about them?
There are many projects that use the unique capabilities of both the Arecibo and the Green Bank Telescope.The obvious ones are the Pulsar surveys and Pulsar timing projects. This is where measuring the radio burst from neutron stars can eventually detect gravitational waves from merging super massive black holes, like that found in the center of some galaxies. In order to achieve this, we need a large number of pulsars.
Therefore we want to search far and wide to find them. Arecibo was the largest radio telescope in the world, which allows it to search for very deep and weak pulsars. Yet because of its size, it cannot be tilted, limiting what part of the sky it can observe. Using the largest steerable structure, that is the GBT, is great for finding pulsars in the other part of the sky that Arecibo cannot reach. Arecibo searches the far, while GBT searches the wide.
What is the major difference between Puerto Rico and West Virginia?
The weather.
What are their similarities?
Puerto Rico and West Virginia have more in common than you first realize. Both have their unique dialects. The mountains can make it hard to get where you want to go. Not all the information you need can be found online. Be wary where the GPS sends you. Your cell phone might not work. In spite or maybe because of these “hardships”, both places have a tremendous amount of pride in the region they call home.
May 24 – 25; September 17 – 18
May 19 – 23
For grad students, post-docs and experts in other fields of astronomy.
May 30 – June 1
2½ day workshop, geared toward college faculty who teach at small non-research colleges or community colleges, and who have an interest in learning about radio astronomy research.
For more info, contact the GBO Education Officer, Sue Ann Heatherly at sheather@nrao.edu
June 8 – 10
Space Race Rumpus is weekend-long cycling festival, based at the Observatory that raises funds for a Community Wellness Center.
June 10 – 13
Learn more: [http://www.radio-astronomy.org]
June 4 – 8
For all summer students at NRAO and GBO sites.
June 19 – 23
This workshop engages undergraduates and their faculty on radio astronomy projects with the ALFALFA Survey data. The workshop is part of an NSF-sponsored program to promote undergraduate research within the ALFALFA project.
June 17 – 30
Professional Development workshop to prepare WV teachers to teach 9th grade Earth and Space Science.
For an overview of all upcoming local- and scientific-community events, be sure to visit our events calendar.
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