Radio Astronomy Archives

October 22, 2023October 23, 2023 by Laurence Tognetti

Now Astronomers have Discovered “Ultra-Fast Radio Bursts” Lasting Millionths of a Second

Artist rendition of a radio telescope discovering ultra-fast radio bursts that were recently discovered and the focus of this recent study. (Credit: Daniëlle Futselaar/www.artsource.nl)

A recent study published in Nature Astronomy examines the discovery of what astronomers are dubbing “ultra-fast radio bursts”, a new type of fast radio bursts (FRBs) that the team determined lasts for a mind-boggling ten millionths of a second or less. Traditionally, FRBs have been found to last only thousandths of a second, but this study builds on a 2021 study that hypothesized FRBs could possibly last for millionths of a second. This also comes after astronomers recently announced the discovery of the oldest and farthest FRB ever observed, approximately 8 billion light-years from Earth.

October 11, 2023October 11, 2023 by Laurence Tognetti

A Sneak Peek at the Next Generation Very Large Array’s New Antennae

Credit: National Science Foundation/Associated Universities, Inc./National Radio Astronomy Observatory/J.Malusky

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) recently disclosed a prototype radio telescope antennae for its next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) to a group of press, scientists, engineers, and government and business leaders from the United States and Germany at the end of a workshop held at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig. While construction on the ngVLA isn’t slated to begin until 2026, this recent unveiling provided an opportunity for mtex antenna technology to present its 18-meter dish, which consists of 76 individual aluminum panels arranged in an 8-sided shape.

October 1, 2023October 1, 2023 by Matt Williams

Astronomers are Working to Put a Radio Telescope on the Far Side of the Moon by 2025

This artist’s rendering shows LuSEE-Night atop the Blue Ghost spacecraft scheduled to deliver the experiment to the far side of the moon. Credit: Firefly Aerospace

The Moon will be a popular destination for space programs worldwide in the coming years. By 2025, NASA’s Artemis III mission will land the first astronauts (“the first woman and first person of color”) onto the lunar surface for the first time since the end of the Apollo Era, over fifty years ago. They will be joined by multiple space agencies, as per the Artemis Accords, that will send European, Canadian, Japanese, and astronauts of other nationalities to the lunar surface. These will be followed in short order by taikonauts (China), cosmonauts (Russia), and vyomanauts (India), who will conduct similarly lucrative research and exploration.

Having facilities in orbit of the Moon, like the Artemis Base Camp, the International Lunar Research Station, and others, will enable all manner of scientific research that is not possible on Earth or in Earth orbit. This includes radio astronomy, which would be free of terrestrial interference on the far side of the Moon and sensitive enough to detect light from previously unexplored cosmological periods. This is the purpose of a pathfinder project known as the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) that will leave for the Moon next year and spend the next 18 months listening to the cosmos!

August 14, 2023August 14, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Storms on Saturn Can Have Impacts That Last for Hundreds of Years

A giant storm rages on Saturn. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is a storm that has raged for hundreds of years. It was first observed by Gian Domenico Cassini in 1665, and except for a period between 1713 to 1830, it has been observed continuously ever since. Even if Cassini’s storm is not the one we see today, the current red spot has been around for nearly two centuries. While great storms appear now and then on Saturn and other gas planets, they don’t have the staying power of Jupiter’s great storm. Or so we thought.

August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

What Does 60 Years of Silence Tell Us About the Search for Extraterrestrials?

The Allen Telescope Array searches for alien technosignals. Credit: Seth Shostak, SETI Institute

Aliens are big in the news recently, fueled by congressional hearings about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), formally known as UFOs. But while the idea of aliens visiting Earth may be exciting, the better bet is still the idea that aliens might exist on distant worlds. We already know potentially habitable planets are common and intelligent life has arisen on at least one world, so why not many? But after 60 years of searching for evidence of extraterrestrials “out there,” we’ve found nothing. So what does that tell us?

July 19, 2023July 19, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Did That Message Come From Earth or Space? Now SETI Researchers can be Sure

Illustration of a radio telescope listening for signals from an alien civilization. Credit: Zayna Sheikh, Breakthrough Listen

In radio astronomy, there are lots of natural radio signals to observe. The glow of hydrogen gas, the swirl of electrons along a magnetic field, or the pop-pop-pop of pulsars. These signals usually have a very natural character to them, so astronomers can distinguish them from the artificial chirps and chatters of terrestrial sources. But when you’re looking for the signals of alien civilizations, things can get more tricky. They should have an artificial character similar to the radio signals of humans. So how can astronomers distinguish between the distant artificial signal and the local ones?

July 18, 2023July 18, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Your Oven Gets Hotter Than This Star

An artist’s depiction of the relative sizes of the Sun, a low-mass star, a brown dwarf, Jupiter, and the Earth. Credit: Jupiter: NASA,ESA,and A. Simon (NASA,GSFC); Sun and Low-Mass Star: NASA,SDO; Brown Dwarf: NASA,ESA,and JPL-Caltech; Earth: NASA; Infographic: NASA and E. Wheatley (STScI)

Nuclear fusion is what separates stars from planets. Stars are massive enough to fuse hydrogen in their cores, while planets are not. But in between these two categories are brown dwarfs, which are massive enough to experience some nuclear fusion, just not hydrogen. The largest of them are hot and star-like. The smallest of them are barely warm enough to bake a pizza.

July 7, 2023July 7, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Astronomers Map out the Radio Waves Coming From Large Satellite Constellations

Illustration Starlink satellites over LOFAR. Credit: Daniëlle Futselaar

Satellite internet constellations such as Starlink have the potential to make connect nearly the entire world. Starlink already provides internet access to remote areas long excluded by the internet revolution, and other projects such as OneWeb and Project Kuiper are in the works. But there are side effects to creating a massive array of low-orbit satellites, and one of them is the potentially serious effect on astronomy.

May 20, 2023May 20, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Not All Type 1a Supernovae are Created Equally

Artist view of a binary system before a type Ia supernova. Credit: Adam Makarenko/W. M. Keck Observatory

Supernovae are brilliant explosions that can, for a time, outshine an entire galaxy. They come in two broad types: Type I and Type II. Type II supernovae are what are known as core-collapse supernovae. They occur when a massive dying star fuses ever heavier elements in its core until it runs out of energy options and its core collapses under its own weight, which triggers the explosion. Type I supernovae occur when…well, it’s complicated. But we’re learning more thanks to a new observation by radio astronomers.

February 21, 2023February 21, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

A 500-Meter-Long Asteroid Flew Past Earth, and Astronomers Were Watching

This collage shows six planetary radar observations of 2011 AG5 a day after the asteroid made its close approach to Earth on Feb. 3. With dimensions comparable to the Empire State Building, 2011 AG5 is one of the most elongated asteroids to be observed by planetary radar to date. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

An asteroid the size of the Empire State Building flew past Earth in early February, coming within 1.8 million km (1.1 million miles) of our planet. Not only is it approximately the same size as the building, but astronomers found the asteroid – named 2011 AG5 — has an unusual shape, with about the same dimensions as the famous landmark in New York City.

“Of the 1,040 near-Earth objects observed by planetary radar to date, this is one of the most elongated we’ve seen,” said Lance Benner, principal scientist at JPL who helped lead the observations, in a JPL press release.

This extremely elongated asteroid has a length-to-width ratio of 10:3.