As you drive down the road leading to Jodrell Bank Observatory, a sign asks visitors to turn off their mobile phones, stating that the Lovell telescope is so powerful it could detect a phone signal on Mars. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-4g-network-moon-bad-news.html…
Tag: radio astronomy
The Only Black Hole We’ve Ever Seen Has a Shadow That Wobbles
The supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy has a shadow crescent that moves, like a dancer in the dark. From a report: Over a year ago, scientists unleashed something incredible on the world: the first photo of a black hole ever taken. By putting together radio astronomy observations made with dishes across four continents, the collaboration known…
Spacecraft DAPPER will study ‘Dark Ages’ of the universe in radio waves
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has joined a new NASA space mission to the far side of the Moon to investigate when the first stars began to form in the early universe. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-spacecraft-dapper-dark-ages-universe.html…
Search for ETs among 10 million stars comes up empty
Astronomers used a radio telescope in Australia to search for artificial radio signals among 10 million stars. The search came up empty. But, they say, that’s not bad news for those hoping to find intelligent extraterrestrials. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence-10-million-stars…
Astronomers Find No Signs of Alien Tech After Scanning Over 10 Million Stars
A new large-scale survey of the sky looked into the dark forest of the cosmos, examining over 10 million stars, but failed to turn up any evidence of alien technologies. CNET reports: The study, published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia on Monday, details a search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a collection of…
Repeating fast radio burst woke up again on schedule. Now what?
FRB 121102 is one of the few known repeating fast radio bursts, and astronomers are trying to use this new period of activity to understand it better. Some predict the current active phase should end sometime between August 31 and September 9. Will it? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/repeating-fast-radio-burst-frb-121102-wakes-up-chime…
Magnetic rivers feed star birth
Astronomers have learned that the pull of gravity can sometimes overcome the strong magnetic fields found in great star-forming clouds in space. The resulting weakly magnetized gas flow can feed the growth of new stars. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/magnetized-rivers-feed-star-birth…
Arecibo Observatory damaged by broken lashing cable
The new damage to Arecibo, caused by the heavy cable, happened while repairs from 2017’s Hurricane Maria were still ongoing. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/arecibo-observatory-damaged-by-broken-lashing-cable…
New Exotica Catalog will help guide search for ET
“What if extraterrestrial intelligences are not like us, but are found in the frigid reaches of the outer solar system, the extreme gravity of neutron stars, the brilliant cores of active galaxies, or the hearts of the richest galaxy clusters?” Source: https://earthsky.org/space/the-breakthrough-listen-exotic-target-catalog-seti-extraterrestrial-intelligence…
Dance of 3 stars confirms Einstein’s ‘most fortunate thought’
Researchers in Europe have now confirmed the universality of free fall – which Einstein called his most fortunate thought – with extremely high precision. To do it, they spent 8 years tracking a triple star system containing a millisecond pulsar. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/pulsar-psr-j03371715-einstein-universality-of-free-fall…