While the staff of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank can detect no sign of the National Science Foundation changing its plan to drop the Pocahontas County research facilitys primary research tool the Green Bank Telescope from its portfolio of fully funded astronomy sites by 2017, new rays of hope for the facilitys future can be seen on the horizon.
I am optimistic, said the observatorys business manager, Mike Holstine. Weve been a part of the West Virginia landscape for almost 60 years, and I think that in some shape or form, well be here for a number of years more.
Holstines optimism has developed despite the fact that the NSF opted in 2012 to divest itself of the observatorys crown jewel the $100 million Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, along with the Very Long Baseline Array a network of 10 linked radio-telescopes headquartered in New Mexico and several other smaller telescopes. Facing a dwindling federal budget for astronomy, the NSF chose to focus on the funding of new projects, such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA)in Chile, even though the West Virginia telescope was far from being outdated or idle.
Completed in 2000, the 450-foot-tall, 16 million-pound GBT is the worlds largest fully steerable telescope, capable of precisely directing its 2.3-acre light collecting surface to all but the southernmost 15 percent of the celestial sphere. Known for its wide range of observational wavelengths and its high resolution, the GBT is used by scientists to search the universe for the building blocks of life by detecting gases in distant galaxies and interstellar molecules. Considered one of the best pulsar telescopes in the world, the GBT is used by astronomers around the world to clock the millisecond flashes coming from the spinning neutron stars. Current pulsar research made possible by the huge radio-telescope is helping an international consortium of scientists search for evidence of gravitational waves, the presence of which were first postulated in Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity.
Not all of GBT-assisted discoveries take place in deep space. In January, the telescope produced detailed images of a 70-meter moon orbiting around an asteroid measuring 300 meters across, as the objects hurtled within 745,000 miles of the Earth.
Each year, the GBT provides researchers about 6,500 hours of observation time. That wont necessarily end when the 2017 divestiture date arrives, according to Holstine.
The NSF has said that if we can come up with half the cost of operating the GBT, they would continue to fund us at something almost up to but less than the remaining 50 percent,Holstine said. Right now, were operating at about 30 percent from external funding. So far, were doing pretty good.
Currently, West Virginia University is contributing about $500,000 annually to GBT operations, which now cost $6 million to $7 million annually. Other clients include the Russian space agency, which in 2013 retrofitted Green Banks 1965-vintage 43-meter telescope to serve as one of two Earth stations for the agencys orbiting RadioAstron satellite, the most distant element of an Earth-to-space spanning radio telescope. When the orbiting radio-telescope passes out of view from its Moscow Earth station, observations are downloaded to the Green Bank dish.
We started working with RadioAstron three years ago,said Holstine. Theyve been a great partner. In addition to paying for time on the 43-meter scope, RadioAstron uses the GBT as part of a linked array of radio-telescopes called an interferometer to get high-resolution data, Holstine said. When linked to the GBT,the satellite and other land-based radio-telescopes in the system, a virtual radio-telescope with a diameter of up to 220,000 miles is formed. RadioAstron is used to study quasars, cosmic masers and interstellar space in unprecedented detail.
Their contract runs out in June, but theyve indicated they have every intention of extending it, Holstine said. How long RadioAstron and the Green Bank observatory will remain partners, Holstine said, depends on the state of Russian affairs.
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Russian satellite support, wave search move Green Bank toward independence
