WASHINGTON NASA plans to wait until 2015 to lay out a proposal for its next big astrophysics mission, which could take the form of a single large spacecraft or a series of smaller craft performing related studies, a senior agency official said July 30.

A new flagship mission stands almost no chance of being funded until after work is finished on the budget-busting James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2018, said Paul Hertz, director of NASAs Astrophysics Division. But the planning can begin before JWST begins its five-year mission to study the origins of the universe.

When the prime contract for the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, was awarded in 2002, the observatory, billed as the successor to NASAs hugely successful Hubble Space Telescope, was expected to launch in 2010 and cost a few billion dollars. The observatorys projected price tag has since risen to nearly $9 billion.

Unless a miracle occurs, our next opportunity to start a new strategic mission will be after [JWST] launches, Hertz told members of the NASA Advisory Committees astrophysics subcommittee. In 2017 we hope to start [work on] a new mission. We will put that plan in front of the community [in 2015] through the mid-decade review to find out whether they think we did a good job in following the decadal survey. [Giant Space Telescopes of the Future (Infographic)]

At the 2015 mid-decade review, the National Research Councils Committee for a Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics will review NASAs progress in meeting the science goals laid out by the astrophysics community in a 10-year roadmap published in 2010. That document, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics, is known informally as the astrophysics decadal survey.

Hertz said he will share more details about the options being considered for the 2015 mission proposal in a draft white paper to be released to the astrophysics community ahead of the American Astronomical Societys Jan. 6, 2013, winter meeting in Long Beach, Calif.

Hertz shared few details about the concepts being considered, but he did say NASA is keeping the option open for a Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, if the science that was supported in the decadal survey still drives us in that direction and if the politics allow us to do it.

Other options include missions that Hertz characterized as probes that in price and scale would fall somewhere between NASAs Explorer series of astrophysics missions, which cost up to several hundred million dollars, and a JWST- or Hubble-class observatory.

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope was proposed as a $1.6 billion dark-energy mapping mission. Such an observatory could help scientists measure and understand the expansion of the universe and was accorded a high priority by the decadal survey.

However, the delays and soaring costs on the highly ambitious JWST mission forced NASAs Astrophysics Division to square its future plans with the budget realities of the present. The full effect of this fiscal calculus was manifest in the White Houses 2013 budget request, which proposed halting development work on the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope.

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NASA to Propose Flagship Astronomy Mission in 2015

Illustration by Soner n

By Caleb Scharf 2012-08-05T22:30:26Z

Astronomy, the most ancient of sciences, has always been about mapping.

Australian aborigines looked at the constellation we call Orion and saw a canoe carrying two banished brothers. The Finns saw a scythe. In India, it was obviously a deer. For the Babylonians, it was the heavenly shepherd, and for the Greeks, it was the hunter, a primordial giant.

Over the centuries, mapping the cosmos has been a gradual process of locating the brighter objects and then filling in the gaps. We have helped our eyes along by constructing telescopes, some gathering much more than just visible light to illuminate phenomena beyond our wildest imaginations.

Seeing the universe for what it is has required us to overcome many other blind spots, including the one that places ourselves at the center of the map. It took the insight and intellectual conviction of Galileo and Copernicus to challenge the orthodoxy that Earth was at the center of everything. Even then, the notion that our solar system was nonetheless located somewhere at the middle of the visible universe lasted into the first decades of the 20th century.

The discovery, by the astronomer Harlow Shapley in 1918, that our solar system was not even at the center of the Milky Way galaxy opened the floodgates for more revelations in the following decades. The Milky Way, it turned out, is merely one of many galaxies, all flying apart as the universe expands.

So what does our current map look like? It is both three- dimensional and four-dimensional, linked as it is to time. The farther away objects are, the longer their light has taken to reach us, all the way back through the universes 13.8-billion- year history. There are so many categories of objects and phenomena, and so much higgledy-piggledy data from several hundred years of telescopic astronomy, the best we can do to begin to grasp what this atlas looks like is to play out a thought experiment.

Let us pretend that a very large box has just been delivered to our doorstep, and we have hauled it inside. It contains an ominous-looking sack filled to bursting. An occasional wisp of gas escapes through the knotted top, and every so often a muffled thump or muted glow comes from within.

This sack contains what we could regard as a representative portion of the universe -- a fair sample, a cosmologist would say. If you divided the total mass in the sack by its volume, you would obtain a good estimate of the average density of the universe as a whole. Equally, if you measured just how lumpy the arrangement of galaxies was within this volume, it would be a close match to the universal lumpiness of structure.

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Mapping the Cosmos, From Scythes to Superclusters

Starfest 2012 is Saturday from 4 to 11:30 p.m. at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Union Township.

The Chesmont Astronomical Society will present programs and speakers on astronomy, with telescopes available to view celestial objects.

Admission and parking is free. Donations will be accepted.

The schedule:

4 p.m.: Telescope setup/solar observation.

6 p.m.: Children's activities.

7 p.m.: Stan Stubbe, president, Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council, discusses the Hopewell Big Woods Dark Sky Reserve.

7:35 p.m.: Karl Krasley, president, Chesmont Astronomical Society, marks the group's 25th year.

8:20 p.m.: Dr. H. John Wood of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

9:15 p.m.: Public stargazing.

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Astronomy club invites stargazers to Hopewell

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An impressive group of individuals from the space and astronomy community have teamed up to create an innovative, out-of-the-box concept to help solve what appears to be a growing problem for researchers, scientists, educators and students: how to get funding for research and other ground-breaking projects. With NASA and National Science Foundation budgets shrinking, a new start-up called Uwingu (which means sky in Swahili) will be working to provide ways to keep space science thriving. Founders of the project include notable names like Alan Stern, Andrew Chaikin, Pamela Gay, Geoff Marcy, Mark Sykes, David Grinspoon, and Emily CoBabe-Amman.

Stern told Universe Today that said the groups initiative is not so much in response to the current government funding troubles, but a way to expand resources for the space and astronomy community, which is just smart business, he said.

However, it is an indication of changing times. We couldnt do this without the internet, frankly, which provides a new avenue for reaching people, Stern said.

Additionally, Stern contrasted space and astronomy research, which mainly relies on NASA and NSF grants, to medical research, which has multiple lines of funding venues such as pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the hundreds of medical foundations such as the American Cancer Society, in addition to government grants.

While Stern explained that he couldnt yet reveal all the details of Uwingu, he did provide a few hints.

The idea is to provide outstanding, innovative and cutting edge products, he said. We wont just be accessing space and astronomy people who want to give to a cause, but will be accessing the general public, which is a much bigger marketplace.

Dr. Pamela Gay wrote about Uwingu on her Starstryder website, saying Their ideas are so elegant that I cant believe they havent already been done.

While the team is still finalizing some of their concepts, part of their reticence is building suspense. Just like any new product line, its part of building suspense, just like Apple does when they release a new product. But we have a whole series of projects in work, and we want to do it right, too.

Stern said part of what they are doing is to be a safety net for the space and astronomy community and part of it is to do new things. But, he added, when people have the greatest need is a probably good time to launch a project like this.

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A Creative New Concept for Funding Space Exploration and Astronomy

03.08.2012 - (idw) Astronomische Gesellschaft

German Astronomical Society (AG) publishes this year's award winners

During the yearly major fall meeting, the German Astronomical Society awards internationally renowned prizes to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in astronomy. The awards recognize both scientific activities and achievements in the field of public outreach and education. Karl-Schwarzschild-Medal for Sandra Moore Faber

The highest honour in Germany for astronomical research, the Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomical Society will be awarded this year to the astrophysicist Sandra Moore Faber of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

"Sandy Faber has delivered in her more than four decades of research fundamental contributions to understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies, and she has significantly influenced observational cosmology" says Prof. Dr. Andreas Burkert, President of the German Astronomical Society. Of particular importance is her pioneering work on the mysterious cold dark matter, which is crucial for understanding the emergence of the large-scale structure in the universe and galaxy formation. Similarly fundamental has been her research on supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. Students of astronomy are familiar with her name through the well-known Faber-Jackson relation, which relates the orbital velocities of stars in galactic disks to the total luminosity of the galaxies. This relation is a useful tool to determine the distances of galaxies and to understand the structure of disk galaxies like our Milky Way. In addition, Sandy Faber has made significant achievements in the development of new instruments for astronomical observations, including in particular important work for the famous Hubble Space Telescope and the first 10m-class telescope in the world, the Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Awards for successful young scientists

Cecilia Scannapieco of the Leibniz-Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) will receive the 2012 Biermann Prize. Since her PhD in 2006 at the University of Buenos Aires, the Argentinian astrophysicist has been working in Germany. Her internationally acclaimed theoretical work and advanced modelling of the gas physics in high-resolution computer simulations have provided important new insights into the origin and evolution of spiral galaxies, and how these galaxies were able to form large, thin galactic disks like that in the Milky Way. Only six years after her PhD, Cecilia Scannapieco has already established herself as an international expert.

The Dissertation Award of the Astronomical Society goes this year to Julius Donnert from the Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bologna. The winner is honoured for his outstanding dissertation on magnetic fields and cosmic radiation in galaxy clusters. He completed his dissertation at the University Observatory Munich under the supervision of Harald Lesch. The publication of his scientific results has received a lot of attention in the scientific community.

Brgel-Prize goes to Hermann-Michael Hahn

The German Astronomical Society awards extend beyond active researchers. Media and outreach activities are also recognized regularly by the Society. For the first time since 2009, the AG will award the Bruno H. Brgel Prize for outstanding German-language popular depictions in the media. Hermann Michael Hahn from Cologne receives the award for his broad range of activities in particular in presenting basic skills in aerospace and astronomy to a wide audience. The award winner has been a journalist since 1968 and is known for his numerous books, articles for leading newspapers, public lectures and activities in radio and television.

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High Honours in Astronomy

Public release date: 1-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Renate Bayaz renate.bayaz@springer.com 49-622-148-78531 Springer

Effective 16 July 2012, Springer Science+Business Media has acquired the works of Canopus Academic Publishing Ltd. (CAP), a UK-based physics and astronomy publisher. CAP is a sister company of Canopus Publishing Ltd. The acquired assets consist of more than 50 published and contracted, or planned, monographs, proceedings, and major reference works such as the recently published Handbook of Visual Display Technology. The titles will become part of Springer's physics portfolio.

CAP covers all aspects of physics and the physical sciences and has particularly strong links with the physics community in the UK. Tom Spicer, one of the two owner directors of Canopus Academic Publishing Ltd., will join Springer in order to ensure a smooth transition and further development of the acquired program. Robin Rees, also owner director, will continue as an astronomy consultant for Springer as well as publish popular science books at Canopus Publishing Ltd.

Liesbeth Mol, Editorial Director Physics at Springer, said, "This acquisition will help us move the physics program ahead, especially within the UK, one of the leading areas in physics research. We are delighted that an experienced physics editor like Tom Spicer will become a member of the Springer team and are looking forward to the continued collaboration with Robin Rees."

Robin Rees said, "CAP has cooperated closely with Springer in the past. They have been the most delightful team to work with in academic physics and astronomy our colleagues are all real researchers, and have a refreshingly cerebral approach to business."

Founded by Robin Rees in 1999, Canopus Publishing Ltd. has built a reputation for producing top-quality books for the science market, with a strong emphasis on titles in astronomy and astrophysics. Its sister company Canopus Academic Publishing (CAP) was established by Robin Rees and Tom Spicer in 2008. CAP's focus is on research level titles aimed at those working in academia and industry. Books published include research monographs, graduate level texts, and major reference works (MRWs) which run to several thousand pages.

Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) is a leading global scientific publisher, providing researchers in academia, scientific institutions and corporate R&D departments with quality content via innovative information products and services. Springer is also a trusted local-language publisher in Europe especially in Germany and the Netherlands primarily for physicians and professionals working in the automotive, transport and healthcare sectors. Roughly 2,000 journals and more than 7,000 new books are published by Springer each year, and the group is home to the world's largest STM eBook collection, as well as the most comprehensive portfolio of open access journals. Springer employs nearly 6,200 individuals across the globe and in 2011 generated sales of approximately EUR 875 million.

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Continued here:

Springer acquires book portfolio from Canopus Academic Publishing

Like NASA says, these stars look like the thousand bright flashes of people taking photos just before a big rock concert. In reality, they are the oldest stars in our very own Milky Way, captured by Hubble.

This beautiful group of stars is the last globular cluster in the Messier Catalogue, discovered by French astronomer Pierre Mchain in 1782. Known as Messier 107, it "is one of more than 150 globular star clusters found around the disc of the Milky Way."

You can find them about 20,900 light-years away, in the in the constellation Ophiuchus. [NASA]

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These Are the Oldest Stars In Our Galaxy [Astronomy]

Distant Suns Astronomy App brings the cosmos onto the NOOK Color & NOOK Tablets and Kindle Fire for the first time.San Jose, CA (PRWEB) August 01, 2012 First Light Design (Distant Suns), today announced release of Distant Suns for NOOK™ and Distant Suns Planetarium for Kindle®. The products are based on the award-winning Distant Suns Astronomy App for IOS. They provide knowledge and features for ...

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Distant Suns Astronomy App Now Available for NOOK Tablets and Amazon Kindle

OCEAN PINES -- Kids of all ages will see stars Friday as Cosmic Adventures brings its traveling astronomy series to the Worcester County Library.

Two programs featuring portable planetariums will be held at the Ocean Pines branch at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

"Portable planetariums have been around since at least the late 1970s, but computerized versions like I have are more recent; the first came out in 2004," said Greg Anderson, astronomy educator with Cosmic Adventures Traveling Planetarium. "I was working for a science outreach program at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., at that time. We offered many science labs to schools, but little in the way of astronomy. About a year later -- in the spring of 2005 -- I had the opportunity to start my own business. I liked working with schools as I had been doing, and a traveling planetarium seemed like it might be unique enough to attract some interest."

Anderson considers himself a lifelong science nut and has a degree in biology, though he admitted his fascination with astronomy is a relatively new one.

"I was always intrigued by the subject whenever I learned more about it in a professional capacity, and I took some formal coursework once I decided to make a go of the business," he said.

"I believe that people of all ages can benefit from knowing more about the universe we are part of. As we put up more lights outside that dim our view of the sky and spend more time inside, we are losing our connection to the rest of the universe. The Cosmic Adventures planetarium gives people a chance to see what they are missing, and -- hopefully -- spark an interest in the real sky."

The program begins with a look at the current night sky, including which stars and planets are visible to the naked eye.

"From there, we'll talk about the constellations and perhaps some deep space objects -- distant galaxies and nebulae," Anderson explained. "I'll also take questions from the audience, so every program is a little different."

The former teacher thinks the program he has developed makes the daunting subject much easier for people to grasp.

"Astronomy is one of the harder subjects to learn about through textbooks, because much of it is abstract," Anderson said. "The planetarium makes it a little more real by immersing its audience in the night sky and allowing them to explore it -- inside and during the day.

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Look to the stars at Ocean Pines library

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK, S.D. Get your telescopes and model rockets ready.

Badlands National Park has announced that it is holding its first-ever Astronomy Festival next month.

The Aug. 17-19 event will include hands-on activities and workshops, including model rocket building and launching, photography and night observations.

Guest speakers include NASA Astronaut Story Musgrave, Dakota Lapse photography Randy Halverson whose time-lapse videos of South Dakota's night sky have gained national attention and nuclear physicist Peggy Norris.

All events will be in the area around the Ben Reifel Visitor Center.

For more information, visit http://www.badlandsastrofest.org.

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Badlands National Park plans astronomy festival

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Mike Renzi of Starhoo Observatory in Lakeville is presenting a series of programs at the Lakeville Library.Contributed photo

LAKEVILLE --- It's The Moon, It's The Sun, It's ASTRONOMY with Lakeville's Sky Guy!

That's how folks at the Lakeville Public Library are trumpeting an upcoming chapter of the 2012 Summer Reading Program for students ages 10 and older. This year's theme is We Own the Night and to celebrate it, the library is offering a series of workshops aimed at learning how the Moon, the Sun and the Solar System as a whole shape our days and nights. According to a news release, the program focuses on astronomy education which uses numbers and arithmetic as something fun and not something to be feared.

The sessions will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7, 14, and 21 in the Meeting Room of the Lakeville Library on Precinct Street and will be conducted by Mike Renzi of Starhoo Observatory in Lakeville.

Renzi has conducted previous workshops on Backyard Astronomy and the Night Sky and has also presented to Lakeville Boy Scout troops. His library workshop topics will include The Basketball and the Baseball (Earth & Moon); The Solar System ... What is it, How'd it get here?; and Beyond the Sun the Milky Way.

At the fourth and final meeting, the group will be invited to a Star Party to be held on Aug. 28 at the Starhoo Observatory on Cedar Pond where parents and kids can come to view the night sky through scopes.

This astronomy event is one of a series of free public cultural presentations being held at the Lakeville Public Library; they are supported in part with a grant from the Lakeville Arts Council.

For dates of additional 2012 Cultural Presentation Series events to be held at the Lakeville Public Library this year, visit the Lakeville Arts Council website at http://www.lakevillearts.com.

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Reach for the stars at Lakeville Library

BRUNSWICK — Ron Thompson, from the Southern Maine Astronomy Club will give a free talk titled “Astronomy 101: Everything you wanted to know about astronomy, but never asked” at 6:30 p.m. today at Curtis Memorial Library, 23 Pleasant St. read more

Excerpt from:

Thompson to explain basics of astronomy

25 July 2012 | last updated at 07:23PM

Its director, Mohd Nasir Ismail, said the items were presented by the family of Abdul Ghani at his former residence in Jalan Bakti here recently.

"We would like to express our appreciation and thanks to the family of Abdul Ghani for taking an immediate move to hand over the valuable items to the National Archives after discovering that termites are destroying some of the documents.

"This is indeed the right decision because the National Archives has the expertise in the conservation of items deemed as national and historical treasures," he told Bernama here today.

Mohd Nasir said right now, the materials were being processed, including undergoing fumigation, cleaning, listing and packaging works for permanent storage.

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Terenganu National Archives gets valuable items related to Islamic astronomy

McCloud Nature Park will be hosting a free evening program on astronomy on Saturday, July 28 at 8:30 p.m.

Expert sky watchers from The Indiana Astronomical Society will partner with Hendricks County Parks & Recreation naturalists at McCloud Nature Park for its monthly astronomy program.

The program will provide emphasis on actual observing, helping beginners find their way around the night sky by learning how a telescope works and how to recognize planets, constellations, galaxies and nebulae of all kinds.

Focusing on the basics of astronomy, this event will begin with an outdoor informational session lasting about 30 minutes, followed by night sky viewing through a limited number of binoculars & telescopes provided or you can bring your own.

Astronomy programs are dependent upon clear skies and will be cancelled if bad weather is forecast. Call the McCloud Nature Center at 676-5437 before 5 p.m. Saturday if cloudy skies are evident.

View original post here:

Astronomy program at McCloud July 28

Dr. David L. Ellis, a research engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, will be The Wilderness Center Astronomy Clubs featured speaker at 7:30 p.m. July 27, in the centers Hart Interpretive Building at 9877 Alabama Ave. SW.

Ellis will give a presentation on the International Space Station, which will cover its construction, living conditions and some of the experiments being performed there. The presentation is free and open to the public.

The goal of the Wilderness Center Astronomy Club is to promote the knowledge and enjoyment of astronomy among its members and the community.

For more details about the presentation or The Wilderness Center, call 330-359-5235.

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Astronomy Club speaker to focus on space station

SAN FRANCISCO and WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Stars, the leading provider of mobile applications for amateur astronomy, and MacTech Magazine, the journal for Apple technologies, jointly announced the world's first personal, interactive satellite mission today. SkyCube will allow everyone, all over the world, to participate in its launch, "tweet" messages, and obtain pictures of the earth from space. MacTech is the project's first corporate sponsor.

"We want to create a space exploration experience that everyone can be a part of," states Tim DeBenedictis, Southern Stars Founder. "We are developing a nano-satellite, and mobile apps to go with it, as the focus for a global education and public outreach campaign." The satellite is a 10x10x10 cm '1U' CubeSat intended for launch as a secondary payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2013. Orbiting more than 300 miles up, on a path highly inclined to the earth's equator, SkyCube will pass over most of the world's inhabited regions.

SkyCube will take low-resolution pictures of the earth and broadcast simple messages uploaded by sponsors. After 90 days, it will inflate a 10-foot (3-meter) diameter balloon. SkyCube's balloon will make the satellite as bright as the Hubble Space Telescope or a first-magnitude star. "You'll be able to see it with your own eyes, sailing across the sky," explains DeBenedictis. But SkyCube's balloon isn't just for visibility. It will - within 3 weeks - bring SkyCube down from orbit due to atmospheric drag, ending the mission cleanly in a fiery "grand finale" that avoids any buildup of space debris.

SkyCube will also send out a data pings every ten seconds. This will allow subscribers to broadcast messages or "tweet from space." Each message is 120 characters in length. "You will be able tweet your wife from space to let her know you will be late for dinner," jokes DeBenedictis.

"What attracted MacTech to support SkyCube was the prospect that anyone could be involved. MacTech has always been about bringing the community together, and SkyCube demonstrates the best of this," said Neil Ticktin, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher of MacTech Magazine. "At MacTech Conference (October 17-19, 2012 in Los Angeles), we'll be doing some fun stuff around this project and giving the Apple technical community a great opportunity to be a part of history."

The SkyCube project is using Kickstarter to allow millions of people worldwide to be a part of democratized space exploration. For details, go to http://www.skycube.org

The SkyCube mobile app will be available on the iTunes Store, Google Play, and on any web browser. The basic sponsorship to participate in the mission is $1, which will allow the sponsor to tweet one message from space. There are several tiers of sponsorship available with the SkyCube Mission that people can choose from. Packages range from sending messages and getting pictures to viewing the launch live and actually commanding SkyCube for a day in space. Additionally, corporate sponsorships are available that include a logo on the inflatable balloon.

Southern Stars has already pioneered applications for astronomy with its SkySafari apps, and has changed the way people view the night sky. "Apps let people interact in a very personal way with a powerful computer that they have on them all the time," says DeBenedictis. "The concept of picking up a smartphone and getting pictures from space is novel. It isn't the same as watching it on TV or reading about it."

About Southern Stars

Southern Stars Group, LLC is headquartered in San Francisco. The company's mission is to help people tap into their natural curiosity about the cosmos, via their mobile devices they use every day. Southern Stars has a long history in the astronomy software business. The company has been developing planetarium software since 1993. In 2009, Southern Stars developed SkyFi, the first wireless iPhone-based solution for telescope control. That product, and the first version of the SkySafari iPhone app, won a MacWorld 2010 Best of Show award. Southern Stars was the also the first company to ship a Made-for-iPad serial cable for iOS devices (SkyWire). To date, Southern Stars' iPhone apps have been downloaded more than 1.5 million times.

Originally posted here:

Southern Stars and MacTech Magazine Take You Into Space With SkyCube

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory scientists from the Radio Astrophysics and Sensing Section of the Remote Sensing Division in conjunction with radio astronomers and engineers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Socorro, N.M., achieve "First Light" image, May 1, 2012, at frequencies below 1-gigahertz (GHz) on the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA).

Through the combined expertise of NRL and NRAO scientists and engineers, a new, modern, wide-band receiver system has been developed and is being deployed onboard the JVLA to enable much more sensitive observations over a much broader frequency range extending from 50 megahertz to 500 megahertz (MHz).

Using the first five of the 27 new very high-frequency (VHF) receivers successfully brought into operation, astronomer Dr. Frazer Owen, NRAO, reached an important milestone, mapping the radio sky at 337 MHz.

"The use of over 100 megahertz of bandwidth in the first image is a dramatic illustration of the breakthrough to instantaneous wideband systems at frequencies below one gigahertz," said Dr. Namir Kassim, section head, NRL Radio Astrophysics Section. "This represents a poorly explored part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is important for ionospheric and astrophysical research and to the Navy's mission for navigation and communications."

This demonstration of interferometric imaging is a key milestone. It is strong verification that the new receivers have the sensitivity, stability, and coherence critical to the needs of the international radio and space science communities, with key benefits for both astronomical and ionospheric science applications.

Although not yet at full capability, by summer 2013 all 27 of the 25-meter telescopes of the JVLA will be outfitted with the new receivers.

In 2011, an upgrade to the receivers on the JVLA sacrificed the observatory's capability for operation at VHF frequencies between 30 MHz and 300 MHz, a shortcoming for the JVLA but a decision made necessary by complex technical and fiscal constraints.

"The loss of low-frequency capability to the world's most powerful radio telescope was a set-back not only to the radio research community, but to continued astrophysics and ionospheric work critical to the needs of Navy communications and navigation," says Dr. Tracy Clarke, NRL radio astronomer.

"With the new greatly improved receivers and the demonstration that they work well with the JVLA, scientists are once again able to explore with greater veracity the low-frequency radio bands for high sensitivity astrophysics and high accuracy ionospheric research."

At present, the lack of detailed understanding of the structure of the ionosphere has been a major limiting factor in the ultimate accuracy of GPS measurements, even in times of a relatively quiet ionosphere.

See the original post:

Scientists Bring Low Frequency, 'First Light' to the Jansky Very Large Array

July 22, 2012

Image Caption: The Jansky Very Large Array radio astronomy telescope array consists of twenty-seven, 230-ton, 25-meter diameter dish antennas that together comprise a single radio telescope system. Credit: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

Researchers with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in New Mexico announced Friday that they had successfully achieved first light at low frequencies using the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) radio astronomy telescope.

Using five of the JVLAs 27 230-ton, 25-meter diameter very high-frequency (VHF) dish antennas, NRAO astronomer Dr. Frazer Owen was able to map the radio sky at 337 MHz on May 1, the NRL announced in a July 20 statement. The first light image comes as a new, wide-band receiver system developed by scientists and engineers from both organizations was being deployed on board the JVLA to extend its frequency range.

This initial demonstration of the telescopes interferometric imaging capabilities was called a key milestone by NRL officials, who added that it was strong verification that the new receivers have the sensitivity, stability, and coherence critical to the needs of the international radio and space science communities, with key benefits for both astronomical and ionospheric science applications.

The use of over 100 megahertz of bandwidth in the first image is a dramatic illustration of the breakthrough to instantaneous wideband systems at frequencies below one gigahertz, said Dr. Namir Kassim, section head of the NRL Radio Astrophysics Section. This represents a poorly explored part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is important for ionospheric and astrophysical research and to the Navys mission for navigation and communications.

The telescope is not currently at full strength, according to the Navy. A 2011 upgrade to the receivers made it so the JVLA was unable to operate at VHF capabilities between 30 MHz and 300 MHz, and only five of the observatorys telescopes have been outfitted with the new receivers. All 27 should be fully equipped by next summer, however, and the first light image has been called a critical step in that direction.

The loss of low-frequency capability to the worlds most powerful radio telescope was a set-back not only to the radio research community, but to continued astrophysics and ionospheric work critical to the needs of Navy communications and navigation, NRL radio astronomer Dr. Tracy Clarke said.

With the new greatly improved receivers and the demonstration that they work well with the JVLA, scientists are once again able to explore with greater veracity the low-frequency radio bands for high sensitivity astrophysics and high accuracy ionospheric research, Clarke added.

See the original post:

Jansky Very Large Array Achieves First Light

BABloggee Steven Avery on Twitter sent me a link to a story about astronomy done on MSNBC and its great. Seriously, its worth the 11:30 to watch it. They show not just what were doing, but why were doing it. Its rare for any mainstream medium to cover this well, but its extraordinary that they delve into the philosophy and sheer joy of exploration.

[You may need to refresh this page to get the video to load.]

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fantastic. The short segment after, with Brian Williams talking to Harry Smith is simply wonderful. Its uplifting to see two news people talking about how much they love this sort of thing. I wish we had more of this. I spend a lot of time shaking my head and gritting my teeth over science coverage in the news in this country, so something like this is a breath of fresh air so sweet its staggering.

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MSM tackles the need to explore… and gets it very right | Bad Astronomy

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Want to brush up on your astro-knowledge? Wishing you had taken that Astronomy 101 course in college? CosmoQuest the citizen science and web-based astronomy community is offering online astronomy courses, and their first offering is now open for signups! CQX 001: Solar System Science is an 8-session, 4-week course, exploring the solar system, planetary geology, and extrasolar planets.

Not everyone has access to astronomy and space science classes, said Dr. Pamela Gay, the founder of CosmoQuest. With CosmoQuest, were looking to make the universe accessible to everyone at a cost comparable to what you might pay for dance or music lessons. The classes will be offered online through a Google+ Hangout, and this first course offering will be taught by someone familiar to Universe Today readers: Ray Sanders, who contributes to UT and also answers astronomy questions at his blog, Dear Astronomer. Ray is a research assistant at Arizona State University.

By combining Hangout technology with educational content, well be able to deliver an outstanding classroom experience, Ray said. In this first course, CosmoQuest students will be able to participate in typical Astro 101 solar system course material our Sun and its planets. Well also briefly explore Plutos status, astrobiology, geology, and planetary systems outside our solar system.

Solar System Science is just the first of many classes that CosmoQuest has planned.

In the coming months, well be opening courses on data reduction, observing, stars, galaxies, and more, said Pamela. Our goal is to prepare people to take part in more and more advanced citizen science programs over time.

If youve ever participated in a Google+ Hangout, you know how fun they can be. Heres a chance to use a Hangout to really put your brain to work over the summer!

By keeping the classes small and meeting face-to-face using Google Hangouts, CosmoQuests online classes let students engage in content-rich real-time dialogue with their instructor and fellow classmates, said Georgia Bracey, who is with the Education & Public Outreach team at Cosmoquest. This brings a high level of flexibility, depth, and student-centeredness to the class in a way thats not usually possible in a traditional lecture course.

The cost for the class is $240, and the class is limited to 8 participants. This first CosmoQuest Academy class begins on July 24, 2012. You can find out more information and sign up at this link.

Originally posted here:

CosmoQuest Offering Online Astronomy Course