The Advanced Green Bank Telescope: Planning for the Next Decade

What: A Splinter Session at the 235th AAS Meeting
When: 9:30 – 11:00 AM, Tuesday, January 7th, 2020
Where: Hawaii Convention Center, Room 301B
Who: Open to the scientific community

Looking toward the communities’ scientific priorities for the next decade, Green Bank Observatory is planning and developing capabilities for the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to advance its scientific output. With a new cooperative agreement for operations of the Green Bank Observatory in place, we are soliciting community feedback to help maximize the telescope’s scientific potential in an era of reduced open skies availability.   

The goals of this Splinter Session are:

1. To inform the community of the new cooperative agreement signed between the NSF and Associated Universities Inc. for management of the Green Bank Observatory, and its implications for open-skies projects.
2. To advertise potential new projects for the Green Bank Telescope and Green Bank Observatory as a whole.
3. To solicit feedback from the scientific community on these projects, including (but not limited to) additional science use cases, relative priority, and specific areas of need or interest.
4. To invite volunteers to join focused working groups that will further develop these projects.

The session will consist of series of short presentations by Green Bank Observatory staff, followed by time for questions, feedback, and discussions. The list of topics that will be presented is

• An overview of the current status of Green Bank Observatory
• Radio cameras – feed horn arrays and phased array feeds
• Sensitivity and bandwidth improvements to existing instruments
• Radio frequency interference monitoring and mitigation
• Improving the usability of the Green Bank Telescope

The feedback that is provided during this Splinter Session will help shape the agenda for more focused meetings that will be held at the Green Bank Observatory over the next year. Additional opportunities to provide feedback will be provided for those who cannot attend this Splinter Session.

We welcome participation from all scientists whose research may benefit from the use of the Green Bank Observatory and especially encourage early-career scientists and new GBT users to attend. Details regarding remote participation will be provided prior to the session.

A list of all talks and posters at the 235th AAS meeting which are about, or rely significantly on, data from the Green Bank Observatory can be found at https://greenbankobservatory.org/science/publications-aas235/.

Please contact Ryan Lynch (ude.o1732385704arn@h1732385704cnylr1732385704) with questions or comments regarding the splinter session.

Agenda

• 9:30 — 9:50: Welcome and Overview of new Cooperative Agreement (Karen O’Neil)
• 9:50 — 10:30: Presentations by Observatory Staff
  • 9:50 — 10:00: Radio Cameras (Dave Frayer)
  • 10:00 — 10:10: Receiver Upgrades (Jay Lockman)
  • 10:10 — 10:20: Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring and Mitigation (Ryan Lynch)
  • 10:20 — 10:30: Improving GBT Usability (Toney Minter)
• 10:30 — 11:00: Discussion

More Information

Green Bank Observatory Science in the Next Decade
Green Bank Observatory Technology in the Next Decade