A symposium of Green Bank Telescope/Observatory-associated presentations intended for the AAS Winter meeting will be held on Wednesday February 2 at 2pm EST.
If you have a presentation you’d like to share, please email Green Bank Observatory Post Doc Jesse Bublitz at jbublitz@nrao.edu by this Friday January 21 with your name, affiliation, title of your talk, and a brief description (this can be your AAS abstract).
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The Green Bank Observatory is poised to support and advance the priorities of the National Academies Astro2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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Our scientists are in demand! Several are being featured on podcasts and other digital media.
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The Green Bank Observatory (GBO) enters a new era of leadership in October. Dr. James M. Jackson, an internationally known astrophysicist, has accepted the role of director.
After serving as director for 15 years, Dr. Karen O’Neil will join the scientific staff. O’Neil has led the Observatory since 2006, including overseeing the separation from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the successful transition to Green Bank Observatory in 2016. She looks forward to being a longstanding member of the Observatory staff and being a vital part of its continued growth.
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An international team of astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in Green Bank, West Virginia, and the NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have captured a snapshot of a massive galaxy cluster, very close to the epoch when it began to emerge from the cosmic web.
(more…)The National Science Foundation (NSF) has renewed its support of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) with a $17 million grant over 5 years to operate the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center (PFC).
(more…)Incredibly sensitive spectral observations from the Green Bank Telescope discover previously unknown huge Galactic structure
When it comes to the Universe, there is more than meets the eye. Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have discovered a massive, previously unknown structure in our Galaxy. This discovery was so unexpected, additional observations were taken using the Green Bank Observatory’s 20-meter Telescope to confirm the data.
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For the June 2021 meeting several Observatory staff will be sharing presentations, sessions, and iPosters. This list is evolving as the full breadth of meeting items that mention the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Green Bank Observatory are brought to our attention.
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The staff of the Observatory are sharing several presentations at the June 7th-9th meeting of the AAS.
Venus is an enigma. It’s the planet next door and yet reveals little about itself. An opaque blanket of clouds smothers a harsh landscape pelted by acid rain and baked at temperatures that can liquify lead.
Now, new observations from the safety of Earth are lifting the veil on some of Venus’ most basic properties. By repeatedly bouncing radar off the planet’s surface over the last 15 years, a UCLA-led team has pinned down the precise length of a day on Venus, the tilt of its axis and the size of its core. The findings are published today in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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Astronomical surveys mapping regions of the Galaxy have been collected and studied for decades. These surveys allow researchers to compare previous data, further characterize objects or images of the sky, and learn more through statistical analysis. For the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) Diffuse Ionized Gas Survey (GDIGS), researchers took advantage of the power of the GBT, located in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, to better understand the impact of massive stars in the Milky Way.
(more…)How would you feel if you could talk to an astronaut, orbiting over 200-miles above you in space?
Friday, May 7th at 8:00 AM EDT, students in rural West Virginia will experience this once in a lifetime opportunity. Green Bank Elementary-Middle School (GBEMS) will be contacting astronaut Mark Vande Hei on the International Space Station (ISS).
The Green Bank Observatory employees established a sustainability committee in late 2020 to develop new initiatives for local residents to improve their environment and their lives.
The National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is teaming up with NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (GDSCC) to observe this potentially hazardous asteroid. These new observations of Apophis will allow scientists to improve their understanding of the asteroid’s orbit, and better estimate the odds that Apophis could strike the Earth in the future. Predicting if there is a real chance of impact, decades ahead of time, gives scientists the opportunity to take action to manipulate the orbit of Apophis to avoid a collision in the future.
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This “waterfall image” is actually three separate observations combined to show NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover as it enters the Martian atmosphere before touching down on the red planet. Green Bank Observatory Data Analyst Amber Bonsall created this image using data received by the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The GBT was pointed at Mars to observe communications from the rover as it landed February 18th, 2021 at 3:55 p.m. EDT.
(more…)The Green Bank Telescope’s Part in the NASA Perseverance Mars Rover Landing
GREEN BANK, WEST VIRGINIA – Cheers could be heard throughout the Green Bank Observatory as NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover successfully touched down on the red planet Thursday, February 18th, at 3:55 p.m. EDT. The National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) helped relay communications from the rover to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) located in southern California.
(more…)West Virginia’s Role in the NASA Perseverance Mars Rover Landing
The National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT), located in Green Bank, West Virginia, plays a role in the upcoming mission of the NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The GBT will receive communications from the rover as it arrives on Mars on February 18th and pass these on to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) located in southern California.
(more…)In 1997, I was finishing high school and dating a young lady that was doing an astronomy project using the 40-Foot telescope. She told me one day that she was doing an all-night observation of some source, changing something in the observation every 5-10 minutes — I can’t recall if it was switching polarization, or between source and calibration signals. Since this was before the 40-Foot had any automation, this switching had to be done manually — literally looking at the clock and throwing a toggle on one of the racks at the correct time. Every ten minutes, for several hours. It was going to be boring, tedious, tiring work in the middle of the night.
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In partnership with National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and Raytheon Intelligence &
Space (RI&S), the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) tested a multi-static radar intended to expand
the scientific reach and capability of the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Very Long Baseline
Array (VLBA).
Some of you may remember David Heeschen. He was the first astronomer to be hired by the brand-new National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in about 1956. He was NRAO director 1962-1978. He facilitated the building of the VLA and is sometimes called the “father of the VLA”, which was completed in 1980. But before that, in about 1962 he was interested in finding if the radio sources that were known at the time varied in brightness. So he had the observatory buy a small off-the-shelf radio dish and had it automated to observe a list of sources every day. After a few years, apparently none of those sources were varying appreciably in brightness, and the project was abandoned and the 40-Foot was idle for many years.
(more…)My times with the 40-foot are selfish ones. I’ve been in the bunker hundreds of times, often with teacher groups and student groups, but also many times alone. Those are some of my most cherished 40-Foot memories. Walking through snow from the dorm to the bunker in the early morning hours, sometimes lit by a beautiful moon, hoping to catch Orion. Bicycling towards the telescope late at night, worried about a collision with deer or skunk. Sitting for hours with that old WWII radio, cranking through the frequencies, looking at the Doppler shifted signals from the spiral arms. Working with Deb Hemler, Peg Romeo, and Aimee Govett as we tried to detect the HI from M31 (and finally, that early morning with Aimee when we tuned the local oscillators just right, set the dials correctly, and watched as the chart recorder showed us the extra-galactic neutral hydrogen). Carl, telling me (incorrectly) that I could treat the Sun as a point source. Sue Ann Heatherly explaining how to set the declination for negative declination. Ron explaining how to find the moon using ‘simple spherical trigonometry’ (then we got Stellarium and we no longer needed trig). Walking out of the bunker, looking up, and seeing the Milky Way.
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