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3.21.24
S. Bhatnagar
F. Madsen
P. Jagannathan
M. Hsieh
K.S. Rowe
NRAO Algorithms R&D Group (ARDG) and Scientific Information and Services (SIS)
High sensitivity imaging with interferometric radio telescopes requires processing large volumes of data using algorithms with high arithmetic intensity (number of floating-point operations (FLOPS) per byte of data). With a typical data volume in the 100s of Terabyte range, the estimated computing power needed for imaging with next-generation telescopes like the ngVLA [below] and SKAO is in the 10s of PetaFLOPS/sec range (ngVLA Memo #4). This size of computing, which would require parallel processing across 1000s for nodes with GPUs to harvest the necessary computing power, poses the biggest challenge for the next generation of data processing systems. This combination of large computing power needed to process large data volumes seems to also occupy a relatively new portion of the parameter space for both, astronomers as users and for the super-computing centers as resource providers.
Therefore, and as a path-finder for ngVLA-scale processing, we deployed the computational intensive components of the Algorithm Architecture (paper in preparation) on a scale about 10x larger (O(100) GPUs) than what has been attempted so far at NRAO (O(10) GPUs) to investigate the operational and computational challenges of distributed computing at this scale. For this, in collaboration with the Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, WI), we used a nation-wide network of computers in the Open Science Pool (OSPool), U.S. National Science Foundation’s Pathways for Advancing Throughput computing (PATh), San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the Univ. of California San Diego and the National Research Platform (NRP).
Even with current telescopes, deep imaging (noise limits of O(micro Jy/beam) require 100s of compute nodes with GPUs for parallel processing to harvest a few Peta FLOPS of computing power to process tens of terabytes of data collected over many hours of observing. As a result, imaging of such existing data in the telescope data archives for deep imaging has not yet been possible due to excessive runtime of weeks per iteration. To demonstrate a path to enable such scientific goals, here, in order to focus on the scalability and the robustness of the tool-chain necessary for the large scale parallel computing, we chose the data for the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) taken with the VLA at S- and C-band with a target noise of 0.5 microJy/beam (uid://evla/pdb/2867513; PI: Dr. Wiphu Rujopakarn).
Using about 100 GPUs running in parallel to process about 1.7 Terabytes of data for Stokes-I imaging, iterations reached convergence in about one day of runtime, corresponding to an overall processing throughput of more than 1 Terabyte per hour. We achieved a RMS noise of about 1 microJy/beam, making this one of the deepest images ever made with the VLA (Figure 1, left, click to enlarge). The AW-Projection algorithm was used for imaging to account for the direction-dependent effects due to the non co-planar geometry and the instrumental time- and frequency-dependence of the antenna primary beams (PB). Figure 2 (below, click to enlarge) shows the configuration of the computing resources used. The full data volume was partitioned into approximately 10 GB chunks and staged from NRAO DSOC to the CHTC at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The data was accessed along the time axis of the database for distribution across the remote compute nodes to optimize the High Throughput Computing component of the architecture. On the remote nodes, these data partitions were locally accessed along the frequency axis for optimizing the High Performance Computing (HPC) component of the architecture. The execution of the various software components of the architecture was then managed by the software that interfaces with the OSPool/PATh runtime infrastructure.
For imaging, we used the software from the LibRA project where the algorithmically-significant scientific software has been derived from the larger CASA code base. The distributed version of the AW-Projection algorithm for imaging was deployed using standalone computer programs which uses the Kokkos framework for performance portability (developed in a collaborative effort of two DOE organizations – the Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration). This allowed the computations to be deployed seamlessly on 4 different types of GPUs in a network of remote hosts running an unspecified flavor of the Linux OS without the need for code modifications or re-implementation. Apart from enabling new computing capability, this use of existing well-tested scientific code base with one of the widest coverage of scientific capabilities also demonstrates its re-usability and architectural flexibility, both of which are critical for scaling along multiple axis for the algorithmic and computational needs of large next-generation telescopes like the ngVLA and SKA. The software was deployed on nodes from California to New York with the most universities involved in a single, GPU-based workload, from large institutions like the University of California San Diego to small ones like Emporia University (Clemson, SC). This allowed us to not only test the LibRA software stack for scaling in throughput and in smoothly deploying it on a Wide Area Network of heterogeneous GPUs, but also exercise the CHTC/PATh infrastructure to support projects requiring high performance computing nodes embedded in a distributed high throughput computing infrastructure to process Terabytes of data. These distributed capacity contribution were united using open source technologies like HTCondor for computing and Pelican for data delivery, developed by the NSF-funded Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing (PATh; NSF grant #2030508) and the Pelican Project (NSF grant #2331480), respectively. The data was accessed via the NRP’s data caches deployed in the network backbone of Internet2 and federated into the Open Science Data Federation. This work therefore also validated a mode of scientific computing expected to become more and more common in utilizing the national cyberinfrastructure for open science and harvesting the computing power it affords.
This line of work is a step towards the larger goal of achieving a processing throughput of at least O(10) Terabytes/hour using the algorithms deemed necessary to achieve the stated scientific goals of the next-generation telescopes, and also making this mode of computing accessible to users of current telescopes. More work is therefore in progress to further improve the imaging performance and also increase the parallelization to ngVLA scale. Among other things, this would require more computing power to include corrections for terms in the imaging equation that we had to switch-off in this first attempt. Work on these fronts is currently in progress within the NRAO/ARDG for algorithms R&D, for computing throughput in collaboration with CHTC/SDSC and with groups like the Kokkos group for performance portable HPC software. We also have active collaborations with industry partners to align all of these developments with the continuous evolution of computing hardware technologies and platforms.
*The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) comprises ten radio telescopes spanning 5,351 miles. It’s the world’s largest, sharpest, dedicated telescope array. With an eye this sharp, you could be in Los Angeles and clearly read a street sign in New York City!
Astronomers use the continent-sized VLBA to zoom in on objects that shine brightly in radio waves, long-wavelength light that’s well below infrared on the spectrum. They observe blazars, quasars, black holes, and stars in every stage of the stellar life cycle. They plot pulsars, exoplanets, and masers, and track asteroids and planets.
It takes a lot to build a mega-science project across three continents with 16 countries involved. But it helps if you have Australian smarts on your side.
The international SKA Observatory (SKAO)’s ambitious science goals require some serious infrastructure. Which is why the SKAO is building the world’s two biggest radio telescopes – SKAO-Mid in South Africa, and SKAO-Low here in Australia.
SKAO SARAO – South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SA) Mid Frequency Aperture Array Karoo, South Africa [below]
SKAO Square Kilometre Array Observatory low frequency at the Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), on the traditional lands of the Wajarri peoples [below].
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Key points
-We are helping build the SKAO-Low telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, our Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Country in Western Australia.
-SKAO-Low is one of the two telescopes being built by the SKA Observatory (SKAO) that will revolutionize our understanding of the Universe.
-Our expertise has been instrumental in the development of the SKAO telescopes, and we’re now collaborating with the SKAO in Australia to build and operate the SKAO-Low telescope.
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Dr Douglas Bock is our Director of Space and Astronomy and the lead Australian scientific representative to the SKAO. He sees the SKA telescopes as an exciting leap forward.
“The SKAO era is going to be incredible for radio astronomy. These telescopes will allow astronomers to study the Universe like never before. We’ll gain insights into its earliest stages when the first stars and galaxies were forming,” Douglas said.
“The astronomy community has been talking about building telescopes like SKAO-Low and SKAO-Mid since the 90’s. We’re now seeing the two telescopes become reality.”
Hosting the SKAO-Low telescope is bringing benefits into Australia. This will include investment in local industry and contracts for local businesses, as well as jobs within the telescope team that will operate and maintain it over its 50-year lifespan.
So, how are we helping make the SKAO telescopes real?
Solving great challenges with Australian innovation
Our ASKAP [below] radio telescope on Wajarri Country under the Milky Way. Credit: Alex Cherney/CSIRO.
Australians have been leaders in radio astronomy since the beginning. Exploring the radio Universe was pioneered here at CSIRO by Dr Joseph Lade Pawsey and Ruby Payne-Scott. It has since exploded into a global field.
Some of the world’s best radio telescopes are here in Australia, including our ASKAP radio telescope [below] and Murriyang, our Parkes radio telescope [below].
We brought this long experience of developing new technology and building and managing radio observatories in remote locations to the SKAO design table. We took a significant role in planning infrastructure, telescope operations, software, and computing for the SKAO telescopes.
We also helped secure Australia’s role as a host country for the SKAO-Low telescope. We worked together with the Wajarri Yamaji People, Traditional Owners and native title holders of the observatory site, and the Australian and Western Australian governments.
Our outback WA observatory
When you’re searching for a location to build the world’s largest radio telescopes, you need the best places on Earth to look out into the Universe.
Wajarri Country, in Western Australia, was identified as a front runner early in the search for an Australian site for the SKAO telescopes. It had clear advantages such as a low population density and very low level of human-generated radio signals.
That search led to the creation of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, our Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. This was done in partnership with the Wajarri Yamaji and with the support of the Australian and Western Australian governments.
The observatory is now the location of two SKAO precursor telescopes: our ASKAP radio telescope and Curtin University’s Murchison Widefield Array [below]. This world class site is also home to Arizona State University EDGES instrument [below].
On-site construction of the SKAO-Low telescope began in December 2022.
In our role as observatory managers, we mitigate radio emissions from technology (including the radio telescopes themselves). This helps ensure the site remains one of the best places on Earth for radio astronomy.
We also take care of the observatory land. We work alongside Traditional Owners on regeneration and landcare and coordinate with our neighboring pastoral stations.
Inyarimanha Ilgari Bundara, our Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory hosts world-class instruments like our ASKAP radio telescope.
Sharing sky and stars with the Wajarri Yamaji
The Wajarri Yamaji have been observing the sky from the observatory site for tens of thousands of years. Now, they’re sharing their sky and stars with us.
Our first Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with the Wajarri Yamaji was finalized in 2009. That marked the official establishment of the observatory and kicked off the construction of our ASKAP radio telescope.
A new ILUA was finalized in 2022, enabling the on-site SKAO-Low telescope construction to start. The new agreement expanded the observatory and included a Wajarri name for the site – Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, which means ‘sharing the sky and stars’.
As part of our commitment to ensuring the protection of Wajarri heritage at the observatory we’ve walked Country shoulder-to-shoulder with the Wajarri People. Together, Wajarri, CSIRO and the SKAO developed a layout for the SKAO-Low telescope. It ensures places of significance and the antennas can co-exist.
There are many intergenerational benefits to the local community that come from hosting the observatory. These include training and education opportunities as well as jobs on Country.
Telescope teamwork with the SKAO
We’re collaborating with the SKAO in Australia to build and operate the SKAO-Low telescope. This means that most of the SKAO-Low team in Australia are also part of our CSIRO team.
The SKAO-Low team have been working hard since on-site construction began on 5 December 2022. Construction work first focused on preparing infrastructure and laying power cables and optical fibre ready for installation of the antennas on site.
In March 2024 the first of more than 130,000 antennas were installed at the observatory for the SKAO-Low telescope. This marked a major milestone on the path to the final telescope. Antennas will continue to be installed at a rapid pace, alongside more infrastructure construction. This includes laying further power cabling and optical fibre, adding more of the mesh the antennas sit on, and constructing the buildings that will hold the computers needed to combine the signals from the antennas.
We’re not just working with the SKAO to build and operate the SKAO-Low telescope. We’re also collaborating with the SKAO alongside industry and research organizations across other areas of the complex SKAO project.
We’re working with local expertise to manage the site infrastructure construction contracts on behalf of the SKAO. We are also helping the SKAO manage the important role of connecting all the individual telescope systems and checking they’re working together correctly.
Plus, we’re joining forces with international research institutions and university partners to develop the ‘brain’ of the SKAO-Low telescope. It will combine the data signals received from groups of antennas.
We’re also part of the team developing the supercomputer software that will take that data and create the images astronomers will use to study the Universe.
The off-site computers for the SKAO-Low telescope will be hosted by the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre [below]. And we’re a foundation partner in the Australian SKA Regional Centre, the data conduit between the SKAO and the astronomy community.
It’s an exciting time for Douglas, who’s been working on the SKAO project for three decades.
“I’m proud of the leading role we’ve played in the SKAO project so far, and it’s really only just the beginning,” Douglas said.
“Building a next-generation telescope is an exciting process to live through, one that takes years, sometimes decades, to fully realize.”
“I can’t wait to see the impact to astronomy from this leap forward in technology as well as the broader benefits of the SKAO project.”
We acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji as Traditional Owners and native title holders of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site.
CSIRO works with leading organizations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and in France, Chile and the United States, employing about 5,500 people.
Federally funded scientific research began in Australia over 100 years ago. The Advisory Council of Science and Industry was established in 1916 but was hampered by insufficient available finance. In 1926 the research effort was reinvigorated by establishment of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which strengthened national science leadership and increased research funding. CSIR grew rapidly and achieved significant early successes. In 1949 further legislated changes included renaming the organization as CSIRO.
Notable developments by CSIRO have included the invention of atomic absorption spectroscopy; essential components of Wi-Fi technology; development of the first commercially successful polymer banknote; the invention of the insect repellent in Aerogard and the introduction of a series of biological controls into Australia, such as the introduction of myxomatosis and rabbit calicivirus for the control of rabbit populations.
Research and focus areas
Research Business Units
As at 2019, CSIRO’s research areas are identified as “Impact science” and organized into the following Business Units:
Agriculture and Food
Health and Biosecurity
Data 61
Energy
Land and Water
Manufacturing
Mineral Resources Oceans and Atmosphere
National Facilities
CSIRO manages national research facilities and scientific infrastructure on behalf of the nation to assist with the delivery of research. The national facilities and specialized laboratories are available to both international and Australian users from industry and research. As at 2019, the following National Facilities are listed:
The first of more than 130,000 two-metre-tall, Christmas tree-shaped antennas that will make up the SKAO-Low radio telescope were installed today in WA’s Mid West, on Wajarri Country.
One of Earth’s biggest science facilities, destined to provide an unparalleled view of the Universe, is today a step closer to reality.
The first of more than 130,000 two-metre-tall, Christmas tree-shaped antennas that will make up the SKAO-Low radio telescope were installed today in WA’s Mid West, on Wajarri Country.
It is one of two telescopes, together with SKA-Mid in South Africa, being built by the global radio astronomy organization the SKA Observatory (SKAO) as part of a world-wide effort to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe.
The SKAO-Low telescope will enable scientists to explore the first billion years after the so-called dark ages of the Universe, when the first stars and galaxies formed.
SKAO Director-General Prof. Phillip Diamond, in Australia for the event, said laying the first antennas at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, was a significant day for one of humanity’s biggest-ever scientific endeavours.
“Astronomers have been dreaming of this project for decades. To see the antennas that make up the SKA-Low telescope finally on the ground is a proud moment for us all,” Prof. Diamond said.
“These telescopes are next-generation instruments, allowing us to test Einstein’s theories and to observe space in more detail than ever before. With this telescope in Australia, we will watch the births and deaths of the first stars and galaxies, giving us invaluable clues about how the Universe evolved.”
Australia-based SKAO-Low Telescope Director Dr Sarah Pearce said the unique and powerful SKAO telescopes would help us to answer some of our most compelling scientific questions.
“The telescopes are like time machines, we’ll see things we’ve never been able to see in the history of humanity,” Dr Pearce said.
“It may not look like other telescopes you’ve seen. But the SKAO-Low telescope in Australia will be able to map the sky more than 100 times faster than other state-of-the-art telescopes, and will be so sensitive that it can detect the faintest radio signals that have traveled billions of light years across space.”
Globally, 16 countries – including Australia – are part of the SKAO’s effort to build the SKAO telescopes. In Australia, the SKAO is collaborating with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, to build and operate the SKAO-Low telescope.
This week marks the start of on-site work for new field technicians who will be tasked with the massive technical challenge of building more than 130,000 antennas across 74 km of the observatory site in the Murchison region. The group of 10 field technicians, seven of whom are from the Wajarri community, are the first employees hired in technical roles to build the antennas on site.
They were recruited to participate in a 12-month training program established by teams from the SKAO and CSIRO. The training program is intended to provide the skills field technicians need to build the SKAO-Low telescope, as well as transferable skills that will improve their long-term job prospects. The SKAO and CSIRO teams worked closely with the Wajarri Yamaji People to encourage recruitment of Wajarri employees in these roles.
CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton said it was a milestone moment for an extraordinary science mega-project and CSIRO, as Australia’s national science agency, was honored to be part of it.
“The SKAO project truly evokes another scientific age of wonder, promising new discoveries that will challenge and enrich our understanding of the Universe itself.”
Dr Hilton said collaboration was at the heart of the SKAO project, especially the partnership with the Wajarri Yamaji People, Traditional Owners and native title holders of the observatory site.
“Collaboration is what is bringing this project to life and that’s why it’s so exciting to welcome new team members in the joint SKAO-CSIRO traineeship program, including our new Wajarri team members.
“We’ve developed the traineeship program in partnership with the Wajarri community to benefit and learn from their incredible knowledge and wisdom and to grow employment opportunities on Country, reflecting our vision to create a better future for all Australians.”
Wajarri Yamaji Aboriginal Corporation CEO Jamie Strickland said the significant milestone in the SKAO project was one that was celebrated by Wajarri Yamaji People.
“Through this important work, opportunities will continue to be created that allow our people to actively manage our heritage and culture and be active participants in the increased employment and economic development opportunities that will flow from the project,” he said.
“It also firmly places Wajarri Yamaji People on the world stage, and clearly shows how traditional knowledge and culture can help inform today’s technology and our understanding of our place in the Universe.
“We look forward to building on our strong partnerships with SKAO and CSIRO, and the Australian and Western Australian governments, particularly where this will benefit Wajarri Yamaji People for years to come”.
Prof. Diamond said he was thrilled to see the progress on the project, due to be completed by the end of the decade.
“In Australia, the Wajarri Yamaji People have been observing the skies and stars from this location for tens of thousands of years, so to now be sharing those same skies and stars with them is a pleasure and privilege,” he said.
The SKAO and CSIRO acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji People as Traditional Owners and native title holders of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site.
The observatory site has been established with the support of the Australian and Western Australian governments.
CSIRO works with leading organizations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and in France, Chile and the United States, employing about 5,500 people.
Federally funded scientific research began in Australia over 100 years ago. The Advisory Council of Science and Industry was established in 1916 but was hampered by insufficient available finance. In 1926 the research effort was reinvigorated by establishment of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which strengthened national science leadership and increased research funding. CSIR grew rapidly and achieved significant early successes. In 1949 further legislated changes included renaming the organization as CSIRO.
Notable developments by CSIRO have included the invention of atomic absorption spectroscopy; essential components of Wi-Fi technology; development of the first commercially successful polymer banknote; the invention of the insect repellent in Aerogard and the introduction of a series of biological controls into Australia, such as the introduction of myxomatosis and rabbit calicivirus for the control of rabbit populations.
Research and focus areas
Research Business Units
As at 2019, CSIRO’s research areas are identified as “Impact science” and organized into the following Business Units:
Agriculture and Food
Health and Biosecurity
Data 61
Energy
Land and Water
Manufacturing
Mineral Resources Oceans and Atmosphere
National Facilities
CSIRO manages national research facilities and scientific infrastructure on behalf of the nation to assist with the delivery of research. The national facilities and specialized laboratories are available to both international and Australian users from industry and research. As at 2019, the following National Facilities are listed:
In our most basic understanding of our Solar System, planets are drawn into the orbit of our massive star, the Sun. But what happens to planet-sized objects that don’t have a star? A team of astronomers studying Jupiter-mass binary objects (JuMBOs) in the Orion Nebula are gaining a new understanding of these unusual systems. These massive, free-floating objects are being drawn into orbit with each other. These latest findings come from observations made by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
This groundbreaking discovery has been made in the field of astronomy, thanks to advancements in sensitivity that have allowed scientists to detect fainter and smaller objects in space. Using the VLA, astronomers searched for counterparts to a group of 40 Jupiter-mass binary objects known as JuMBOs, previously identified by Pearson and McCaughrean in 2023. Surprisingly, only one of these objects, JuMBO 24, exhibited a radio counterpart.
This remarkable finding challenges existing theories on the formation of stars and planets. The radio luminosity of the two planets in this binary system is significantly higher than that detected in brown dwarfs, which are objects that share similarities with these planets. This abnormality raises new questions and provides exciting research opportunities to further understand the nature of these free-floating planets. While it is possible that the association between infrared and radio signals is coincidental, the team considers this to be highly unlikely, with odds of only 1 in 10,000. This discovery builds upon the previous work of Kao et al., who, in 2018, detected a single planetary-mass system resembling the components of JuMBO 24 using the VLA.
Dr. Luis F. Rodriguez, Professor Emeritus at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who participated in this research, emphasizes the significance of the discovery. “What’s truly remarkable is that these objects could have moons similar to Europa or Enceladus, both of which have underground oceans of liquid water that could support life”, he stated.
The detection of radio waves originating from both components of a double system of free-floating planets represents a significant milestone in our exploration of the universe. It also presents an exciting opportunity for further research into the potential habitability of planets beyond our solar system. You can read the entire published findings at The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
*The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) comprises ten radio telescopes spanning 5,351 miles. It’s the world’s largest, sharpest, dedicated telescope array. With an eye this sharp, you could be in Los Angeles and clearly read a street sign in New York City!
Astronomers use the continent-sized VLBA to zoom in on objects that shine brightly in radio waves, long-wavelength light that’s well below infrared on the spectrum. They observe blazars, quasars, black holes, and stars in every stage of the stellar life cycle. They plot pulsars, exoplanets, and masers, and track asteroids and planets.
How can humans protect the Earth from “devastating asteroid and comet impacts?” According to the National Academies and their 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, ground based astronomical radar systems will have a “unique role” to play in planetary defense.
There is currently only one system in the world concentrating on these efforts, NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar, part of the Deep Space Network (DSN).
However, a new instrument concept from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) called the next generation RADAR (ngRADAR) system will use the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and other current and future facilities to expand on these capabilities.
On Saturday, February 17th, scientists will showcase recent results obtained with ground-based radar systems at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference in Denver, Colorado.
“NRAO, with the support of the National Science Foundation and oversight by Associated Universities, Inc., has a long history of using radar to further our understanding of the Universe. Most recently the GBT helped confirm the success of NASA’s DART mission, the first test to see if humans could successfully alter the trajectory of an asteroid, “ shares NRAO scientist and ngRADAR project director Patrick Taylor.
The GBT is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. The maneuverability of its 100-meter dish enables it to observe 85 percent of the celestial sphere, allowing it to quickly track objects across its field of view. Adds Taylor, “With the support of Raytheon Technologies, ngRADAR pilot tests on the GBT—using a low-power transmitter with less output than a standard microwave oven—have produced the highest-resolution images of the Moon ever taken from Earth. Imagine what we could do with a more powerful transmitter.”
Scientists sharing their results at AAAS include Edgard G. Rivera-Valentín of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and Marina Brozović of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages Goldstone and the DSN. Adds Brozović, “The public might be surprised to learn that the technology we use in our current radar at Goldstone hasn’t changed much since World War II. For 99% of our observations, we transmit and receive from this one antenna. New radar transmitter designs, like ngRADAR on the GBT, have the potential to significantly increase the output power and waveform bandwidth, allowing for even higher resolution imaging. It will also produce a scalable and more robust system by using telescope arrays to increase the collecting area.”
“NRAO is an ideal organization to lead these efforts because of the instruments we have available to receive radar signals, like the Very Long Baseline Array has done in our pilot ngRADAR project,” explains Brian Kent, NRAO scientist and director of science communications, who coordinated the presentation at AAAS, “Future facilities like the next generation Very Large Array [ngVLA], as a receiver, will create a powerful combination for planetary science.”
How does ground-based astronomical radar expand our understanding of the Universe? By allowing us to study our nearby Solar System, and everything in it, in unprecedented detail. Radar can reveal the surface and ancient geology of planets and their moons, letting us trace their evolution. It can also determine the location, size, and speed of potentially hazardous Near Earth Objects, like comets or asteroids. Advances in astronomical radar are opening new avenues, renewed investment, and interest in joint industry and scientific community collaborations as a multidisciplinary venture.
*The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) comprises ten radio telescopes spanning 5,351 miles. It’s the world’s largest, sharpest, dedicated telescope array. With an eye this sharp, you could be in Los Angeles and clearly read a street sign in New York City!
Astronomers use the continent-sized VLBA to zoom in on objects that shine brightly in radio waves, long-wavelength light that’s well below infrared on the spectrum. They observe blazars, quasars, black holes, and stars in every stage of the stellar life cycle. They plot pulsars, exoplanets, and masers, and track asteroids and planets.
Green Bank Telescope Discovers Hundreds of Clouds Blasting into Interstellar Space.
Artist’s conception of the clouds flowing out from the center of the Milky Way, entrained in a very hot wind that has accelerated them to velocities of many hundreds of kilometers per second. Most of the clouds have been detected by the Green Bank Telescope through their radio emission from hydrogen, but a few (indicated in blue) are now known to contain molecular gas as well. The clouds were blasted out of the Milky by processes associated with star formation or the central black hole. Credit NSF/GBO/P.Vosteen.
The Green Bank Telescope has discovered over 250 gaseous clouds being blasted out of the center of the Milky Way into interstellar space. This research was presented today at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) in New Orleans. A decade ago, astronomers weren’t aware of this phenomenon. It took years of observations, and some surprising finds, to produce this latest result.
It has been known for some time that energetic processes in the center of the Milky Way have created fast, hot winds expanding into intergalactic space with temperatures of millions of degrees and velocities of thousands of kilometers per second. Most large galaxies have winds like this.
The accidental discovery that some of this outflowing hot gas has entrained cold hydrogen clouds was made by the Australian ATCA telescope measuring the 21cm radio emission emitted by interstellar hydrogen atoms.
This implied that there could be an undiscovered population of clouds carrying matter out of the nucleus of the Milky Way.
The hydrogen clouds are important on their own, but they also serve as probes of the hot wind.
It is difficult to measure conditions within the very hot wind, but the cool clouds can trace it in the same way that on Earth, a handful of leaves tossed upwards can show the direction and speed of the local wind.
The GBT’s sensitivity make it the ideal instrument for detecting faint signals from interstellar hydrogen, but mapping these clouds, and realizing their true extent, was no easy feat. “It took years using the GBT to systematically map hundreds of square degrees in search of faint hydrogen emission,” shares Jay Lockman, senior astronomer at the Green Bank Observatory, “Once we identified some promising candidates, we could follow up with targeted observations at other telescopes to show us more.”
“The clouds must have been ripped from an area near the very center of the Milky Way and flung outward, either by a burst of star formation or activity of a black hole,” explains Lockman. Some of these clouds have the highest outflow velocity of any clouds ever observed in the Milky Way, and may escape the galaxy.
In an unexpected twist, new data from the APEX telescope in Chile has revealed that some of the hydrogen clouds contain molecules and dense cold gas.
“No one would have expected that clouds violently ejected from the Milky Way could harbor relatively fragile molecular material, but there it is,” said Lockman. Recently the MeerKAT array in South Africa has mapped the hydrogen in a few clouds at high angular resolution, showing them evolving and being shredded as they flow into interstellar space.
These new results open the door for more discoveries, adds Lockman, “How the clouds remain stable as they are accelerated to more than 400 kilometers-per-second is a mystery. The chemical processes in these clouds are quite unusual and unexplored.”
The Green Bank Observatory enables leading edge research at radio wavelengths by offering telescope, facility and advanced instrumentation access to the astronomy community as well as to other basic and applied research communities. With radio astronomy as its foundation, the Green Bank Observatory is a world leader in advancing research, innovation, and education.
60 years ago, the trailblazers of American radio astronomy declared this facility their home, establishing the first ever National Radio Astronomy Observatory within the United States and the first ever national laboratory dedicated to open access science. Today their legacy is alive and well.
The observatory was established as the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in 1956 and made its first observations in 1958.
It served as the NRAO’s headquarters until 1966, after which the facility was known as the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank.
In October 2016, the observatory became an independent institution following a 2012 recommendation that the NSF fully divest itself from the facility by October 1, 2016.
Green Bank Observatory subsequently retained partial NSF funding, established private contracts, and formed a partnership with West Virginia University. It is operated by the nonprofit Associated Universities, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
The Milky Way is full of alien worlds that might make their own magnetic fields —astronomers just need to find them. Credit: Allison Li/Quanta Magazine.
New observations of a faraway rocky world that might have its own magnetic field could help astronomers understand the seemingly haphazard magnetic fields swaddling our solar system’s planets.
For decades, astronomers have been perplexed by planetary magnetic fields. In our own solar system, there is no rule that explains which worlds generate these magnetic sheaths: Earth, for example, has one, but its sister world — Venus — does not.
Astronomers suspect that one of the best ways to understand the mysteries of magnetism might be to study worlds orbiting other suns. By collecting a census of exoplanet magnetic fields, researchers could determine whether they are common features of other worlds. Doing so would help put our solar system in context and resolve some abiding curiosities, said Mary Knapp, an astronomer who studies exoplanets at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory.
“Earth versus Venus is a good example — two planets that are similar in size, fairly similar in composition, but wildly different in terms of magnetic fields,” Knapp said.
It has been a challenge to build such a census — and to even find exoplanet magnetic fields — because these fields are faint and hard to detect. But in April, two independent teams found what appears to be the signature of a magnetic field produced by a rocky planet orbiting a small, dim red dwarf star about 12 light-years away. The planet, called YZ Ceti b, is slightly smaller than Earth and likely too hot for life as we know it. Yet finding a magnetic field on a rocky world could tell us more about how magnetic fields form and how they impact a planet’s evolution — and even its suitability for life.
“We know from our solar system that magnetic fields play an important role in affecting how a planet loses or retains its atmosphere over time,” said Jackie Villadsen, an astronomer at Bucknell University and a member of one of the teams. “We’re trying to answer the question: How common are strong global magnetic fields on Earth-like planets?”
Radio Signals
In our solar system, Earth and the four giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — have significant magnetic fields. Mercury has only a faint field, and Mars very likely had a more robust field in the past, which it lost for reasons that aren’t completely understood.
Planetary magnetic fields are generated by an engine called a dynamo, which is built from molten metal churning in a planet’s core.
That churning produces electrical currents that drive a magnetic field. On Earth and the four gas giants, this process is strong enough to form a protective cocoon around the planet, deflecting charged particles that would otherwise blow away the planets’ atmospheres.
Merrill Sherman/Quanta Magazine.
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“Magnetic fields act like a shield from radiation,” said Ayan Biswas, an astronomer at Queen’s University in Canada. “They are very important for life.”
Scientists suspect that many of the 5,000 known exoplanets have magnetic fields, but detecting them is a different matter. In the 1970s, astronomers surmised that when a planetary magnetic field interacts with the planet’s host star, it might produce an observable spike in low-frequency radio waves emitted by the star, known as auroral emissions. The timing of those spikes, as seen from Earth, would depend on a planet’s location in its orbital trek — they’re like a periodic fingerprint that indirectly reveals the planet’s presence.
Even before the first exoplanet discovery in 1992, “people thought this would be a really good way to look for exoplanets,” said Jake Turner, an astronomer at Cornell University.
The technique proved difficult; no ironclad detections of exoplanetary magnetic fields have been made before now, but there have been promising candidates.
Evgenya Shkolnik, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University, and colleagues used atmospheric data from four hot Jupiters — giant planets orbiting close to their stars — to get a hint of magnetic fields in 2019. In 2021, a team led by Turner used the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope in the Netherlands to detect a radio signal linked to a planetary magnetic field in the Tau Boötes system, 51 light-years from Earth.
And later in 2021, Lotfi Ben-Jaffel at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics and colleagues detected ultraviolet emissions from a Neptune-like planet called HAT-P-11 b, 123 light-years from Earth, that were suggestive of the planet’s magnetosphere.
But none of the detections were definitive — and none were of rocky planets.
Phone Home
In 2017, astronomers found exactly the system they needed for the type of indirect observation they’d hypothesized about for nearly 50 years. Three rocky planets orbited the red dwarf YZ Ceti, a cosmic stone’s throw away. The system’s proximity to our own makes its planets convenient targets — especially YZ Ceti b, the innermost planet. Plus, red dwarfs typically have stronger magnetic fields than stars like our sun, which makes it easier to identify the fingerprint of an orbiting planet’s magnetic field. “This was one of the first systems discovered that meets these criteria,” Villadsen said.
Now two teams have turned up evidence of a magnetic field made by YZ Ceti b. Both teams spotted periodic bursts of radio waves that seemed to occur when YZ Ceti b reached a similar point in its two-day orbit around the star. One of the teams — Villadsen’s — detected the telltale radio fingerprint using the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
“We worked out the planet would need a magnetic field strength similar to Earth’s to cause this brightness of radio waves,” Villadsen said.
The other team, which includes Biswas, posted their results shortly after. That group made similar observations of periodic radio spikes using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India.
“We’re 99% sure [the signal] is coming from the planet,” Biswas said.
The results are promising, said Shkolnik, who was not involved in either study. “I wouldn’t consider it a confirmation yet, but it’s very suggestive,” she said. A more definitive detection would require more observations of the star and the periodic radio spikes. She and others are hoping that similar observations can be attempted for the TRAPPIST-1 system of seven Earth-size worlds orbiting a red dwarf 40 light-years from Earth, or even for the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth at 4.25 light-years, which hosts a (probable) rocky planet.
Finding exoplanetary magnetic fields is crucial for understanding how prevalent they are and how planets make magnetism. “We don’t really have an amazing understanding of how these things are generated on planets,” said Robert Kavanagh, an astronomer at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.
In our solar system, a dynamo seems to be key. But a dynamo might not be the only way to generate a planetary magnetic field, especially in “super-Earths” — worlds that are between Earth and Neptune in mass — which are among the most common type of exoplanet spotted so far. Miki Nakajima, a planetary scientist at the University of Rochester, is investigating whether heat fluctuations within a planet could do the job inside worlds that have molten interiors but lack a solid core. “I’m interested in whether a magma ocean can produce a magnetic field,” she said, noting that “magma oceans should be pretty common in super-Earths.”
But astronomers say that new techniques are needed to transform the search from one-off detections into the type of census they’re hoping for.
One idea Knapp is working on, called GO-LoW, would use a fleet of thousands of small spacecraft to study radio waves from exoplanets. Another idea is FARSIDE, a proposed radio array from NASA that would be placed on the far side of the moon, free of radio interference from Earth. If any of these projects come to fruition, astronomers might solve these abiding mysteries — or uncover an even more puzzling trove of unearthly delights.
“Will we find Earths with Jupiter-sized fields, or Jupiters with Earth-sized fields?” Knapp said. “I don’t know, but I’d really like to find out.”
Formerly known as Simons Science News, Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent online publication launched by the Simons Foundation to enhance public understanding of science. Why Quanta? Albert Einstein called photons “quanta of light.” Our goal is to “illuminate science.” At Quanta Magazine, scientific accuracy is every bit as important as telling a good story. All of our articles are meticulously researched, reported, edited, copy-edited and fact-checked.
Is there life beyond Earth? The question has turned out to be one of the hardest to answer in science.
(Image credit: ESA/NASA)
Is there life beyond Earth? The question has turned out to be one of the hardest to answer in science. Despite the seemingly boundless expanse of the universe, which implies there’s potential for abundant life, the vast distances between stars render the search akin to locating a needle in a cosmic haystack.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) constitutes a branch of astronomy dedicated to finding extraterrestrial life by searching for unusual signals, dubbed “technosignatures”. The identification of a technosignature wouldn’t just signify the existence of life, but specifically point to the presence of intelligent life using advanced technology.
That said, 60 years of searches have so far come up short. But now my colleagues at Breakthrough Listen and I have started investigating a previously unexplored range of frequencies.
Seti makes the assumption that extraterrestrial civilizations might rely on technology in a similar way to people on Earth, such as using cell phones, satellites or radar.
Since a significant portion of such technology generates signals that are prominently detectable in radio frequencies, focusing on these wavelengths serves as a logical starting point in the quest for potential extraterrestrial intelligence.
Previous technosignature surveys have included only the radio frequency band above 600 MHz, leaving lower frequencies virtually unexplored. That’s despite the fact that everyday communication services such as air traffic control, marine emergency broadcasting and FM radio stations all emit this type of low-frequency radiation on Earth.
The reason it hasn’t been explored is that telescopes that operate at these frequencies are rather new. And lower-frequency radio waves have less energy, meaning they can be more challenging to detect.
In our concluded survey, we ventured into these frequencies for the first time ever.
The Low Frequency Array (Lofar) is the world’s most sensitive low-frequency telescope, operating from 10-250 MHz. It’s composed of 52 radio telescopes with more on the way, spread across Europe. These telescopes can reach a high resolution when used in unison.
Our survey, however, only made use of two of these stations: one situated in Birr, Ireland, and the other in Onsala, Sweden. We surveyed 44 planets orbiting other stars than our Sun that had been identified by Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Over the course of two summers, we scanned these planets at 110 to 190 MHz with our two telescopes.
Initially, this doesn’t seem like a large amount of targets, but low-frequency observation boasts a major advantage in having large fields of view compared with their higher-frequency siblings. That’s because the area of the sky covered decreases with higher frequencies.
In the case of Lofar, we covered 5.27 square degrees of the sky for each pointing of our telescopes. This culminated in 36,000 targets per telescope pointing – or more than 1,600,000 targets in total, when you check what other stars are nearby and include their planets as well.
Interfering signals
Searching for technosignatures from space introduces a significant challenge — the same technosignatures are ubiquitous on Earth. This presents an obstacle as the telescopes in these searches boast sensitivity levels that can detect signals, such as a phone call, from halfway across the solar system.
Consequently, the data collected is inundated with thousands of signals originating from Earth, posing a considerable difficulty in isolating and identifying signals that could be of extraterrestrial origin. The need to sift through this extensive and noisy dataset adds a layer of complexity to the search.
We came up with an innovative approach to mitigating such radio frequency interference, called the “coincidence rejection” method. This takes into account the local radio emissions at each of our telescopes. For example, if I am using the telephone close to the telescope in Ireland to call my supervisor, that same call won’t appear in the data in Sweden, and vice versa (mainly because the telescope isn’t pointing in our direction, it’s pointing at an exoplanet candidate).
So, we decided to only include signatures in the dataset if they exhibited a simultaneous presence at both stations, suggesting they come from outside Earth.
In this way, we whittled down thousands of candidate signals to zero. This means we didn’t find any signs of intelligent life with our search, but we have only just started – and there are likely to be an enormous number of Earth-like planets out there. Knowing that the coincidence rejection method works with a high success rate may be key to helping us discover life at one of these planets in the future.
There are many ways forward for technosignature searches at low frequencies. Currently, there is a sister survey (Nenufar) being carried out on that operates at 30-85 MHz.
Along with this, further Lofar observations will increase the volume of the survey by a factor of ten over the course of the coming year. The collected data is also used for investigating astronomical objects known as pulsars, fast radio bursts, radio exoplanets and more.
Thankfully, we’re only at the start of a long journey. I have no doubt that many wondrous things will be found. And if we’re lucky, we may reap the biggest reward of all: some company in the cosmos.
The Breakthrough Listen is the largest ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. The scope and power of the search are on an unprecedented scale:
The program includes a survey of the 1,000,000 closest stars to Earth. It scans the center of our galaxy and the entire galactic plane. Beyond the Milky Way, it listens for messages from the 100 closest galaxies to ours.
The instruments used are among the world’s most powerful. They are 50 times more sensitive than existing telescopes dedicated to the search for intelligence.
These are among the astronomical resources imvolved with Breakthrough Listen
The radio surveys cover 10 times more of the sky than previous programs. They also cover at least 5 times more of the radio spectrum – and do it 100 times faster. They are sensitive enough to hear a common aircraft radar transmitting to us from any of the 1000 nearest stars.
The radio surveys cover 10 times more of the sky than previous programs. They also cover at least 5 times more of the radio spectrum – and do it 100 times faster. They are sensitive enough to hear a common aircraft radar transmitting to us from any of the 1000 nearest stars.
We are also carrying out the deepest and broadest ever search for optical laser transmissions. These spectroscopic searches are 1000 times more effective at finding laser signals than ordinary visible light surveys. They could detect a 100 watt laser (the energy of a normal household bulb) from 25 trillion miles away.
Listen combines these instruments with innovative software and data analysis techniques.
The initiative will span 10 years and commit a total of $100,000,000.
Climate change and satellites and now radio signals are threatening our ability to peer into deep space.
Tons of radio signals are always shrouding Earth. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Earth’s atmosphere is filled with an intensifying blizzard of radio waves — media broadcasts, mobile phone signals, radar pings, you name it. It’s a torrent that’s critical for sustaining our world’s civilization — but unfortunately, it’s also an impediment for ground-based radio telescopes.
Astronomers who want to catch radio signals from much farther away in the cosmos must see through the ever-noiser haze.
Some scientists and engineers have a plan to fight back against the noise. With the help of a $510,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, this group of researchers from West Virginia University hope to hone radio telescopes’ abilities to detect and filter out noise that does not come from space. The researchers plan to offer their creations for free to the astronomy community.
The plan has three parts. First, the researchers will create new techniques and algorithms that can detect and classify radio signals for astronomers to filter out. Second, they’ll try out those algorithms on new and improved radio telescope hardware. Finally, they’ll develop new metrics to measure how well radio telescopes can see through the interference.
The researchers say that any algorithms, software and methods that result from the project will be openly available for other astronomers to use however they see fit. Radio astronomers in particular need any extra telescope sensitivity they can get. To really answer some of the field’s most pressing questions — like what causes fast radio bursts — scientists need to be able to detect extremely weak signals coming from extremely distant regions and filter out any and all noise that may cut in.
“The success of this work will be measured not only by our development of the proposed algorithms, but by their adoption, successful use and expansion by the broader international astronomical community,” Kevin Bandura, a professor of engineering at West Virginia University and one of the project’s leaders, said in a statement.
However, radio interference is not the only human-made concern that threatens to disrupt astronomers’ studies. Satellites in Earth orbit already create both light and radio waves that taint telescopic pictures of the cosmos. And some astronomers worry that human-driven climate change, making the atmosphere hotter and wetter, will hamper telescopes that operate best in dry conditions as well.
West Virginia University is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser, and a second clinical campus for the university’s medical and dental schools at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston. WVU Extension Service provides outreach with offices in all of West Virginia’s 55 counties.
The Morgantown campus offers more than 350 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and professional degree programs throughout 14 colleges and schools.
The university has produced Goldwater Scholars, Truman Scholars, Marshall Scholars, Udall Scholars, Boren Scholars, Gilman Scholars, Fulbright Scholars, Department of Homeland Security Scholars, Critical Language Scholars, NIST Fellows, and NSF Graduate Research Fellows. Rhodes Scholars are WVU alumni, including former WVU president David C. Hardesty, Jr.
Under the terms of the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, the West Virginia Legislature created the Agricultural College of West Virginia on February 7, 1867, and the school officially opened on September 2 of the same year. On December 4, 1868, lawmakers renamed the college West Virginia University to represent a broader range of higher education. It built on the grounds of three former academies, the Monongalia Academy of 1814, the Morgantown Female Academy of 1831, and Woodburn Female Seminary of 1858. Upon its founding, the local newspaper claimed that “a place more eligible for the quiet and successful pursuit of science and literature is nowhere to be found”.
The first campus building was constructed in 1870 as University Hall and was renamed Martin Hall in 1889 in honor of West Virginia University’s first president, the Rev. Alexander Martin of Scotland. After a fire destroyed the Woodburn Seminary building in 1873, the centerpiece of what is now Woodburn Hall was completed in 1876, under the name New Hall. The name was changed to University Building in 1878 when the College of Law was founded as the first professional school in the state of West Virginia. The precursor to Woodburn Circle was finished in 1893 when Chitwood Hall (then Science Hall) was constructed on the bluff’s north side. In 1909 a north wing was added to University Building, and the facility was renamed Woodburn Hall. Throughout the next decade, Woodburn Hall underwent several renovations and additions, including the construction of the south wing and east tower (in 1930) housing the Seth Thomas clock. The three Woodburn Circle buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1899, the Vance Farm was acquired for the West Virginia University Experiment Station.
West Virginia University was required to have a Cadet Corps under the terms of the Morrill Act of 1862, which allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges. The United States Department of War—a predecessor of the U.S. Department of Defense—offered military equipment to the university at no charge, forming the basis of the school’s Military Tactics department. The heavy military influence led to opposition of female enrollment that lasted through the first decade of the university. The trend changed in 1889, when ten women were allowed to enroll and seek degrees at the university. In June 1891, Harriet Lyon became the first woman to receive a degree from West Virginia University, finishing first in the class ahead of all male students. Lyon’s academic success supported the acceptance of women in the university as students and educators.
During the university’s early years, daily chapel services and roll call for all students were mandatory, limiting time for student recreation. Following the removal of these obligations, students became active in extracurricular activities and established many of the school’s first athletic and student organizations. The first edition of the student newspaper known as the Athenaeum, now The Daily Athenaeum, was published in 1887, and the West Virginia Law Review became the fourth-oldest law review in the United States when it was founded in 1894. Phi Kappa Psi was the first fraternity on campus, founded May 23, 1890, while Kappa Delta, the first sorority at West Virginia University, was established in 1899. The first football team was formed in 1891, and the first basketball team appeared in 1903.
The university’s outlook at the turn of the 20th century was optimistic, as the school constructed the first library in present-day Stewart Hall in 1902.
The campus welcomed U.S. President William Howard Taft to the campus for West Virginia University President Thomas Hodges’s inauguration in 1911. On November 2, 1911, President Taft delivered the address “World Wide Speech”, from the front porch of Purinton House. However, the university’s efforts to attract more qualified educators, increase enrollment, and expand the campus was hindered during a period that saw two World Wars and the Great Depression. With a heavy military influence in the university, many students left college to join the army during World War I, and the local ROTC was organized in 1916. Women’s involvement in the war efforts at home led to the creation of Women’s Hall dormitory, now Stalnaker Hall, in 1918.
Despite its wartime struggles, the university established programs in biology, medicine, journalism, pharmacy, and the first mining program in the nation. In 1918, Oglebay Hall was built to house the expanded agriculture and forestry programs. Additionally, the first dedicated sports facilities were constructed including “The Ark” for basketball in 1918, and the original Mountaineer Field in 1925. Stansbury Hall was built in 1928 and included a new basketball arena named “The Fieldhouse” that held 6,000 spectators. Elizabeth Moore Hall, the woman’s physical education building, was also completed in 1928. Men’s Hall, the first dormitory built for men on campus, was built in 1935, and was funded in part by the Works Progress Administration. The Mountaineer mascot was adopted during the late 1920s, with an unofficial process to select the Mountaineer through 1936. An official selection process began naming the mascot annually in 1937, with Boyd “Slim” Arnold becoming the first Mountaineer to wear the buckskin uniform.
As male students left for World War II in 1941–42, women became more prominent in the university and surpassed the number of males on campus for the first time in 1943. Soldiers returning from the war qualified for the G.I. Bill and helped increase enrollment to over 8,000 students for the first time, but the university’s facilities were becoming inadequate to accommodate the surging student population.
Preparation for the baby boomer generation and plans for curriculum expansion led to the purchase of land for the Evansdale and Medical campuses. The growth of downtown Morgantown limited the space available on the original campus; therefore, the new site was nearly two miles north on what had been farmland. Beginning in the late 1950s the university experienced the most rapid period of growth in its history. In 1957, West Virginia University opened a Medical Center on the new campus and founded the first school of dentistry in West Virginia. The basketball program reached a new level of success when the university admitted future 14‑time NBA All-Star and Hall of Fame player Jerry West, who led the team to the national championship game in 1959. As enrollment approached 14,000 in the 1960s, the university continued expansion plans by building the Evansdale Residential Complex to house approximately 1,800 students, the Mountainlair student union, and several engineering and creative arts facilities on the Evansdale campus. In 1970 the West Virginia University Coliseum, a basketball facility with a capacity of 14,000, opened near the new campus. As the facilities expanded, the university researched ways to move its growing student population across the split campuses and to solve its worsening traffic congestion. The resulting Personal Rapid Transit system opened in 1973 as the world’s first automated rapid transit system.
The student population continued to grow in the late 1970s, reaching 22,000. With no room for growth on the downtown campus, the football stadium was closed, and the new Mountaineer Field was opened near the Medical campus on September 6, 1980. Mountaineer Field would later be named Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. After an $8 million donation to the university, Ruby Memorial Hospital opened on the Medical campus in 1988, providing the state’s first level-one trauma center. Early the next year, the undefeated Mountaineer football team, led by Major Harris, made it to the national championship game before losing to Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
During the 1990s the university developed several recreational activities for students, including FallFest and West Virginia University “Up All Night”. While the programs were created to provide safe entertainment for students and to combat West Virginia University’s inclusion as one of the nation’s top party schools, they also garnered national attention as solutions for reducing alcohol consumption and partying on college campuses across the country. In 2001, a $34 million, 177,000-square-foot (16,400 m^2) recreation facility opened on the Evansdale campus, providing students with exercise facilities, recreational activities, and personal training programs.
West Virginia University reached a new level of athletic success to start the new millennium. The football team featured a 3‑0 BCS bowl record, ten consecutive bowl game appearances, a #1 ranking in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, three consecutive 11‑win seasons amassing a 33–5 record, 41 consecutive weeks in the top 25, and 6 conference championships. The men’s basketball team won the 2007 NIT Championship and the 2010 Big East championship, while appearing four times in the sweet sixteen, twice in the elite-eight, and once in the final-four of the NCAA tournament. The athletic successes brought the university a new level of national exposure, and enrollment has since increased to nearly 30,000 students.
On April 24, 2008, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the university had improperly granted an MBA degree to Heather Bresch, the daughter of the state’s governor Joe Manchin and an employee of Mylan, a pharmaceutical company whose then-chairman Milan Puskar was one of the University’s largest donors. In the aftermath, the university determined Bresch’s degree had been awarded without the prerequisite requirements having been met. They subsequently rescinded it, leading to the resignation of president Michael Garrison, provost Gerald Lang, and business school dean Steve Sears. Garrison had been profiled as a trend toward non-traditional university presidents by the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed, but the Faculty Senate approved a vote of no confidence in the search that selected him.
West Virginia University is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”according to the National Science Foundation. West Virginia University is affiliated with the Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute, dedicated to the study of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that affect the brain. West Virginia University is also a leader in biometric technology research and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s lead academic partner in biometrics research.
West Virginia University is organized into 15 degree-granting colleges or schools and also offers an Honors College.
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Design
Eberly College of Arts & Sciences
John Chambers College of Business & Economics
College of Creative Arts
Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering & Mineral Resources
College of Education & Human Services
Reed College of Media
College of Law
School of Dentistry
School of Medicine
School of Nursing
School of Pharmacy
School of Public Health
College of Physical Activity & Sport Sciences
University College
Honors College
10.26.23
Prof. Dr. Yuri Kovalev
RadioAstron-Projektwissenschaftler
+49 228 525-424
ykovalev@mpifr.de
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn
Dr. Andrei Lobanov
+49 228 525-191
alobanov@mpifr.de
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn
Prof. Dr. Eduardo Ros
+49 228 525-125
ros@mpifr.de
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn
Dr. Norbert Junkes
Press and Public Outreach
+49 228 525-399
njunkes@mpifr.de
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn
Using a network of radio telescopes on Earth and in space, astronomers have captured the most detailed view ever of a jet of plasma shooting from a supermassive black hole at the heart of a distant galaxy. The jet, which comes from the heart of a distant blazar called 3C 279, travels at nearly the speed of light and shows complex, twisted patterns near its source. These patterns challenge the standard theory that has been used for 40 years to explain how these jets form and change over time. A major contribution to the observations was made possible by the MPG Institute for Radio Astronomy (DE) where the data from all participating telescopes were combined to create a virtual telescope with an effective diameter of about 100,000 kilometres.
Their findings are published in this week’s issue of Nature Astronomy.
Blazars are the brightest and most powerful sources of electromagnetic radiation in the cosmos. They are a subclass of active galactic nuclei comprising galaxies with a central supermassive black hole accreting matter from a surrounding disk. About 10% of active galactic nuclei, classified as quasars,,produce relativistic plasma jets. Bazars belong to a small fraction of quasars in which we can see these jets pointing almost directly at the observer. Recently, a team of researchers including scientists from the MPG Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR)(DE) has imaged the innermost region of the jet in the blazar 3C 279 at an unprecedented angular resolution and detected remarkably regular helical filaments which may require a revision of the theoretical models used until now for explaining the processes by which jets are produced in active galaxies.
“Thanks to RadioAstron, the space mission for which the orbiting radio telescope reached distances as far away as the Moon, and a network of twenty-three radio telescopes distributed across the Earth, we have obtained the highest-resolution image of the interior of a blazar to date, allowing us to observe the internal structure of the jet in such detail for the first time,” says Antonio Fuentes, a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in Granada, Spain, leading the work.
The new window on the universe opened by the RadioAstron mission has revealed new details in the plasma jet of 3C 279, a blazar with a supermassive black hole at its core. The jet has at least two twisted filaments of plasma extending more than 570 light-years from the centre. “This is the first time we have seen such filaments so close to the jet’s origin, and they tell us more about how the black hole shapes the plasma. The inner jet was also observed by two other telescopes, the GMVA [above] and the EHT, at much shorter wavelengths (3.5 mm and 1.3 mm), but they were unable to detect the filamentary shapes because they were too faint and too large for this resolution,” says Eduardo Ros, a member of the research team and European scheduler of the GMVA. “This shows how different telescopes can reveal different features of the same object,” he adds.
The jets of plasma coming from blazars are not really straight and uniform. They show twists and turns that show how the plasma is affected by the forces around the black hole. The astronomers studying these twists in 3C279, called helical filaments, found that they were caused by instabilities developing in the jet plasma. In the process, they also realised that the old theory they had used to explain how the jets changed over time no longer worked. Hence, new theoretical models are needed that can explain how such helical filaments form and evolve so close to the jet origin. This is a great challenge, but also a great opportunity to learn more about these amazing cosmic phenomena.
“One particularly intriguing aspect arising from our results is that they suggest the presence of a helical magnetic field that confines the jet,” says Guang-Yao Zhao, presently affiliated to the MPIfR and member of the scientists team. “Therefore, it could be the magnetic field, which rotates clockwise around the jet in 3C 279, that directs and guides the jet’s plasma moving at a speed of 0.997 times the speed of light.”
“Similar helical filaments were observed in extragalactic jets before, but on much larger scales where they are believed to result from different parts of the flow moving at different speeds and shearing against each other,” adds Andrei Lobanov, another MPIfR scientist in the researchers team. “With this study, we are entering an entirely novel terrain in which these filaments can be actually connected to the most intricate processes in the immediate vicinity of the black hole producing the jet.”
The study of the inner jet in 3C279, now featured in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy [below], extends the ongoing strive to understand better the role of magnetic fields in the initial formation of relativistic outflows from active galactic nuclei. It stresses the numerous remaining challenges for the current theoretical modelling of these processes and demonstrates the need for further improvement of radio astronomical instruments and techniques which offer the unique opportunity for imaging distant cosmic objects at a record angular resolution.
Using a special technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), a virtual telescope with an effective diameter equal to the maximum separation between the antennas involved in an observation is created by combining and correlating data from different radio observatories. RadioAstron project scientist Yuri Kovalev, now at the MPIfR, emphasises the importance of healthy international collaboration to achieve such results: “Observatories from twelve countries have been synchronized with the space antenna using hydrogen clocks, forming a virtual telescope the size of the distance to the Moon.”
Anton Zensus, director of the MPIfR and one of the driving forces behind the RadioAstron mission over the last two decades, states: “The experiments with RADIOASTRON that led to images like these for the quasar 3C279 are exceptional achievements possible through international scientific collaboration of observatories and scientists in many countries. The mission took decades of joint planning before the satellite’s launch. Making the actual images became possible by connecting large telescopes on the ground like Effelsberg and by a careful analysis of the data in our VLBI correlation center in Bonn.”
The Earth-to-Space Interferometer RadioAstron mission, active from July 2011 to May 2019, consisted of a 10-metre orbiting radio telescope (Spektr-R) and a collection of about two dozen of the world’s largest ground-based radio telescopes, including the 100-m Effelsberg radio telescope [below].
When the signals of individual telescopes were combined using the interference of radio waves, this array of telescopes provided a maximum angular resolution equivalent to a radio telescope of 350.000 km in diameter – almost the distance between the Earth and Moon. This made RadioAstron the highest angular resolution instrument in the history of astronomy. The RadioAstron project was led by the Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Lavochkin Scientific and Production Association under a contract with the State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS, in collaboration with partner organizations in Russia and other countries. The astronomical data of this mission are being analyzed by individual scientists around the world, yielding results as the ones presented here.
Following collaborators of the presented work are affiliated to the MPIfR, in order of appearance at the author list: Guang-Yao Zhao, Andrei P. Lobanov, Yuri Y. Kovalev, Efthalia (Thalia) Traianou, Jae-Young Kim, Eduardo Ros, and Tuomas Savolainen. The collaborators Rocco Lico and Gabriele Bruni have also been affiliated to the MPIfR during the time of the RadioAstron mission.
Yuri Y. Kovalev acknowledges the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel research prize of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation.
By combining the already existing radio astronomy faculty of the University of Bonn led by Otto Hachenberg with the new MPG institute the MPG Institute for Radio Astronomy was formed. In 1972 the 100-m radio telescope in Effelsberg was opened. The institute building was enlarged in 1983 and 2002.
The institute was founded in 1966 by the MPG Society as the “MPG Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIfR) (DE)”.
The foundation of the institute was closely linked to plans in the German astronomical community to construct a competitive large radio telescope in (then) West Germany. In 1964, Professors Friedrich Becker, Wolfgang Priester and Otto Hachenberg of the Astronomische Institute der Universität Bonn submitted a proposal to the Stiftung Volkswagenwerk for the construction of a large fully steerable radio telescope.
In the same year the Stiftung Volkswagenwerk approved the funding of the telescope project but with the condition that an organization should be found, which would guarantee the operations. It was clear that the operation of such a large instrument was well beyond the possibilities of a single university institute.
Already in 1965 the MPG Society decided in principle to found the MPG Institut für Radioastronomie. Eventually, after a series of discussions, the institute was officially founded in 1966.
MPG Society for the Advancement of Science [MPG Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.] is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and renamed the Max Planck Society in 1948 in honor of its former president, theoretical physicist Max Planck. The society is funded by the federal and state governments of Germany as well as other sources.
According to its primary goal, the MPG Society supports fundamental research in the natural, life and social sciences, the arts and humanities in its 83 (as of January 2014) MPG Institutes. The society has a total staff of approximately 17,000 permanent employees, including 5,470 scientists, plus around 4,600 non-tenured scientists and guests. Society budget for 2015 was about €1.7 billion.
The MPG Institutes focus on excellence in research. The MPG Society has a world-leading reputation as a science and technology research organization, with 33 Nobel Prizes awarded to their scientists, and is generally regarded as the foremost basic research organization in Europe and the world. In 2013, the Nature Publishing Index placed the MPG institutes fifth worldwide in terms of research published in Nature journals (after Harvard University, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and The National Institutes of Health). In terms of total research volume (unweighted by citations or impact), the Max Planck Society is only outranked by The Chinese Academy of Sciences [中国科学院](CN), The Russian Academy of Sciences [Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к](RU) and Harvard University. The Thomson Reuters-Science Watch website placed the MPG Society as the second leading research organization worldwide following Harvard University, in terms of the impact of the produced research over science fields.
The MPG Society and its predecessor Kaiser Wilhelm Society hosted several renowned scientists in their fields, including Otto Hahn, Werner Heisenberg, and Albert Einstein.
History
The organization was established in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, or Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft (KWG), a non-governmental research organization named for the then German emperor. The KWG was one of the world’s leading research organizations; its board of directors included scientists like Walther Bothe, Peter Debye, Albert Einstein, and Fritz Haber. In 1946, Otto Hahn assumed the position of President of KWG, and in 1948, the society was renamed the Max Planck Society (MPG) after its former President (1930–37) Max Planck, who died in 1947.
The MPG Society has a world-leading reputation as a science and technology research organization. In 2006, the Times Higher Education Supplement rankings of non-university research institutions (based on international peer review by academics) placed the MPG Society as No.1 in the world for science research, and No.3 in technology research (behind AT&T Corporation and The DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory.
The domain mpg.de attracted at least 1.7 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study.
MPG Institutes and research groups
The MPG Society consists of over 80 research institutes. In addition, the society funds a number of Max Planck Research Groups (MPRG) and International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS). The purpose of establishing independent research groups at various universities is to strengthen the required networking between universities and institutes of the Max Planck Society.
The research units are primarily located across Europe with a few in South Korea and the U.S. In 2007, the Society established its first non-European centre, with an institute on the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic University (US) focusing on neuroscience.
The MPG Institutes operate independently from, though in close cooperation with, the universities, and focus on innovative research which does not fit into the university structure due to their interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary nature or which require resources that cannot be met by the state universities.
Internally, MPG Institutes are organized into research departments headed by directors such that each MPI has several directors, a position roughly comparable to anything from full professor to department head at a university. Other core members include Junior and Senior Research Fellows.
In addition, there are several associated institutes: International Max Planck Research Schools
Together with the Association of Universities and other Education Institutions in Germany, the Max Planck Society established numerous International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS) to promote junior scientists:
• Cologne Graduate School of Ageing Research, Cologne
• International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems, at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems located in Tübingen and Stuttgart
• International Max Planck Research School on Adapting Behavior in a Fundamentally Uncertain World (Uncertainty School), at the Max Planck Institutes for Economics, for Human Development, and/or Research on Collective Goods
• International Max Planck Research School for Analysis, Design and Optimization in Chemical and Biochemical Process Engineering, Magdeburg
• International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics, Heidelberg at the MPI for Astronomy
• International Max Planck Research School for Astrophysics, Garching at the MPI for Astrophysics
• International Max Planck Research School for Complex Surfaces in Material Sciences, Berlin
• International Max Planck Research School for Computer Science, Saarbrücken
• International Max Planck Research School for Earth System Modeling, Hamburg
• International Max Planck Research School for Elementary Particle Physics, Munich, at the MPI for Physics
• International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology, Marburg at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
• International Max Planck Research School for Evolutionary Biology, Plön at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
• International Max Planck Research School “From Molecules to Organisms”, Tübingen at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
• International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Jena at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
• International Max Planck Research School on Gravitational Wave Astronomy, Hannover and Potsdam MPI for Gravitational Physics
• International Max Planck Research School for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research
• International Max Planck Research School for Infectious Diseases and Immunity, Berlin at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
• International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences, Nijmegen
• International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, Göttingen
• International Max Planck Research School for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, Tübingen
• International Max Planck Research School for Marine Microbiology (MarMic), joint program of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, the University of Bremen, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, and the Jacobs University Bremen
• International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs, Hamburg
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Freiburg
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences, Munich
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Biology, Göttingen
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Cell Biology and Bioengineering, Dresden
• International Max Planck Research School Molecular Biomedicine, program combined with the ‘Graduate Programm Cell Dynamics And Disease’ at the University of Münster and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine
• International Max Planck Research School on Multiscale Bio-Systems, Potsdam
• International Max Planck Research School for Organismal Biology, at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
• International Max Planck Research School on Reactive Structure Analysis for Chemical Reactions (IMPRS RECHARGE), Mülheim an der Ruhr, at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion
• International Max Planck Research School for Science and Technology of Nano-Systems, Halle at Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
• International Max Planck Research School for Solar System Science at the University of Göttingen hosted by MPI for Solar System Research
• International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Bonn, at the MPI for Radio Astronomy (formerly the International Max Planck Research School for Radio and Infrared Astronomy)
• International Max Planck Research School for the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy, Cologne
• International Max Planck Research School for Surface and Interface Engineering in Advanced Materials, Düsseldorf at Max Planck Institute for Iron Research GmbH
• International Max Planck Research School for Ultrafast Imaging and Structural Dynamics, Hamburg
Max Planck Schools
• Max Planck School of Cognition
• Max Planck School Matter to Life
• Max Planck School of Photonics
Max Planck Center
• The Max Planck Centre for Attosecond Science (MPC-AS), POSTECH Pohang
• The Max Planck POSTECH Center for Complex Phase Materials, POSTECH Pohang
Max Planck Institutes
Among others:
• Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar, Bonn
• Max Planck Institute for Aeronomics in Katlenburg-Lindau was renamed to Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in 2004;
• Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen was closed in 2005;
• Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology in Ladenburg b. Heidelberg was closed in 2003;
• Max Planck Institute for Economics in Jena was renamed to the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in 2014;
• Max Planck Institute for Ionospheric Research in Katlenburg-Lindau was renamed to Max Planck Institute for Aeronomics in 1958;
• Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart
• Max Planck Institute of Oceanic Biology in Wilhelmshaven was renamed to Max Planck Institute of Cell Biology in 1968 and moved to Ladenburg 1977;
• Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich merged into the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in 2004;
• Max Planck Institute for Protein and Leather Research in Regensburg moved to Munich 1957 and was united with the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in 1977;
• Max Planck Institute for Virus Research in Tübingen was renamed as Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in 1985;
• Max Planck Institute for the Study of the Scientific-Technical World in Starnberg (from 1970 until 1981 (closed)) directed by Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Jürgen Habermas.
• Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology
• Max Planck Institute of Experimental Endocrinology
• Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law
• Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics
• Max Planck Research Unit for Enzymology of Protein Folding
• Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing
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