Tag

Radio Astronomy

All articles tagged with #radio astronomy

space4 days ago•9 min saved

CosmoCube: A Tiny Moon Mission Aims to Hear the Universe’s Dark Ages

A UK-led project called CosmoCube, a suitcase-sized satellite, would orbit the Moon’s far side to shield from Earth’s radio noise and search for the faint 21-centimeter hydrogen signal from the cosmos before the first stars, potentially revealing how dark matter influenced the early universe; over a planned two-year mission it would accumulate about 1,000 hours of observations using a compact radiometer, with hopes to launch within five years and demonstrate low-cost cosmology from small satellites.

via SciTechDaily|

#21-centimeter-cosmology #cosmocube #dark-matter

science14 days ago•3 min saved

Lunar Far Side Mission Aims to Listen to the Universe’s First Light

Researchers plan a two‑year mission called CosmoCube, a suitcase‑sized satellite to orbit the Moon’s far side and detect the 21cm radio signal from neutral hydrogen in the early universe, using it as a thermometer to study the dark ages through the cosmic dawn and into reionization; the far side should mitigate Earth‑based interference and ionospheric noise, with a total cost under £50m and funding from the UK Space Agency, aiming for launch about five years from now.

via The Guardian|

#21cm-line #cosmic-dawn #cosmocube

science20 days ago•16 min saved

West Virginia's Radio Quiet Zone: Where Science Takes Precedence Over Cell Service

Green Bank, WV sits inside a 13,000-square-mile National Radio Quiet Zone to shield the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope from radio interference, with stricter local rules within about 10 miles of the telescope; enforcement blends federal licensing and cooperative local monitoring to minimize disruptions, because the telescope detects incredibly faint cosmic signals that can be overwhelmed by everyday electronics; the setup remains essential for research on pulsars, the Milky Way, and other weak signals, and a small number of residents have even moved there for perceived low RF exposure.

via The Times of India|

#green-bank #green-bank-telescope #radio-astronomy

science1 month ago•5 min saved

UK funding cut threatens Jodrell Bank and the SKA's future

The UK government is cutting funding for the Jodrell Bank Observatory (owned by the University of Manchester), risking its research output and up to 28 jobs as investment shifts toward the Square Kilometre Array. While STFC continues some support for SKA-related work, critics warn the move could weaken the UK’s long‑term radio astronomy capabilities and training for young scientists.

via BBC|

#jodrell-bank #lovell-telescope #radio-astronomy

space1 month ago•133 min saved

Africa’s BALLS: a lunar radio telescope test under China’s Chang’e-8 slated for 2029

Africa and partners will deploy the Bounced African Low Lunar Sphere (BALLS), three spherical low‑frequency radio probes, as a technology demonstrator on China’s Chang’e‑8 mission to the Moon’s south pole by 2029. The experiment aims to form a radio telescope array capable of observing very low-frequency signals (below ~20–50 MHz) from the early universe, serving as pathfinder hardware for the broader Africa2Moon network of 55 antennas on the lunar farside. Led by the Foundation for Space Development Africa with SARAO and collaborators across Africa, BALLS will relay data to a lunar lander and then back to Earth, with prototypes tested in 2026 and the broader mission contingent on continued collaboration with China.

via Space|

#africa2moon #balls #change-8

science1 month ago•6 min saved

Funding cuts jeopardize Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope and UK radio astronomy

The UK’s Jodrell Bank Observatory faces closure after UKRI cuts shave its £2.8m annual budget as part of a 2.7% reduction in astronomy and related research, risking 28 jobs and Britain’s radio astronomy capabilities—including the Lovell telescope, the e-Merlin network, and future SKA involvement—unless alternative funding is found.

via BBC|

#jodrell-bank #lovell-telescope #radio-astronomy

astronomy1 month ago•104 min saved

LOFAR maps the magnetic backbone of a galaxy cluster for the first time

Using 224 hours of LOFAR radio observations, astronomers produced the deepest map yet of the galaxy cluster Abell 2255 and reconstructed its magnetic field from core to outskirts for the first time. The results show the magnetic field is shaped by gas motions during cluster formation, with field lines tracing extended radio emissions and showing tangential orientations in regions affected by shocks, providing new insight into how magnetic fields and the largest cosmic structures grow. The study is accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics and is available on arXiv.

via Space|

#abell-2255 #astronomy #galaxy-cluster

astronomy1 month ago•8 min saved

Orion Nebula Exposes Complex Shells From Repeated Stellar Feedback

Using combined 21 cm HI observations from the VLA and FAST, researchers produced the sharpest radio maps of neutral hydrogen around the Orion Nebula, revealing giant expanding shells, cavities, and a four-light-year protrusion inside a second cavity. The structures imply the region was sculpted by multiple generations of massive stars rather than a single bubble, and the HI mass is revised down from ~1000 to ~100 solar masses. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics as part of the NeAtHood project, the findings challenge simple star-formation models and showcase the power of modern radio interferometers, hinting at more hidden structure to come.

via Sci.News|

#astronomy #neutral-hydrogen #orion-nebula

space1 month ago•105 min saved

Nearby ravenous black hole mirrors early-universe feeding frenzy

Astronomers observe a supermassive black hole at the center of SDSS J110546.07+145202.4 (about 1.8 billion light-years away) in a rapid accretion phase, launching jets and causing a roughly 20-fold increase in radio brightness over about eight years. The behavior resembles the vigorous feeding seen in the early universe, providing a nearby laboratory to study extreme accretion physics and jet production. The finding, published in The Astrophysical Journal (May), suggests such rapidly changing radio galaxies could help fill gaps in our understanding of early galaxy growth, with future SKA surveys expected to identify more transients.

via Space|

#accretion #black-holes #early-universe

space1 month ago•6 min saved

Giant Unexplained Radio Rings Hint at a New Class of Cosmic Structures

Astronomers have identified eight gigantic rings of radio emission in deep space, each more than 50 times the Milky Way’s width and visible only at radio wavelengths; their origins are unknown, though three rings sit at galaxy centers, suggesting the rings may be produced by galactic activity and could represent a new class of astronomical objects.

via Boing Boing|

#galaxies #new-class-of-astronomical-objects #odd-radio-circles

space1 month ago•103 min saved

Feeble Radio Whispers Reveal the Blue Eye Pulsar After Decades of Silence

Astronomers using the MeerKAT telescope detected faint radio pulses from the central compact object 1E 1207.4-5209—the Blue Eye Pulsar—located about 10,000 light-years away in the Milky Way. The neutron star emits radio waves every 424 milliseconds, matching its rotation and suggesting that some radio-quiet central compact objects can produce detectable radio emission under certain magnetic-field conditions, possibly triggered by a 2015 spin glitch. The finding implies a larger population of ultra-faint pulsars in the galaxy and could help explain missing pulsars in some supernova remnants, with the study published in Nature Astronomy on June 25.

via Space|

#meerkat #neutron-star #pulsars

science1 month ago•48 min saved

Blue Eye Pulsar Finds Its Voice: Faint Radio Pulses Detected

Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, astronomers detected very faint radio pulses from 1E 1207.4-5209, a central compact object at the center of a supernova remnant nicknamed the Blue Eye Pulsar, about 10,000 light-years away. The signal matches the 424-millisecond spin, marking the first detection of radio emission from this quiet neutron star after decades; a 2015 spin glitch may have reoriented or boosted its magnetic field to make the pulses detectable, suggesting many more such faint pulsars exist and possibly explaining missing pulsars in remnants like SN 1987A.

via Yahoo|

#central-compact-object #meerkat #neutron-star

space1 month ago•12 min saved

SKA-Low Delivers Strong First Light With Only 1% of Antennas

In March 2025, SKA-Low produced its first image using 1,024 antennas out of 131,072, spotting 85 galaxies and exceeding expectations, proving the array’s design works and signaling far deeper surveys as hundreds of stations come online to enable the cosmic-dawn science.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #cosmic-dawn #radio-astronomy

space1 month ago•14 min saved

Dormant supermassive black hole reawakens, unleashing a fresh jet across a million light-years

Astronomers observed galaxy J1007+3540 in the WHL 100706.4+354041 cluster, where a supermassive black hole that had been dormant for about 100 million years has restarted activity, producing a new, bright jet alongside older, faded radio lobes from a prior active phase. Using LOFAR and the upgraded GMRT, the team found the outer, low-frequency lobes are ~240 million years old while a younger inner jet is ~140 million years old, indicating episodic AGN activity. The jets are being distorted by the hot intracluster medium, illustrating how environment shapes jet evolution and confirming that some supermassive black holes cycle between active and dormant states on hundreds of millions of years timescales.

via Space Daily|

#agn #black-hole #galaxy-cluster

science2 months ago•12 min saved

Milky Way Radio Enigma Sparks Talk of a New Class of Objects

A six-appearance, highly polarised radio transient near the Galactic Centre (ASKAP J173608.2−321635) has baffled researchers because it produced no X-ray or infrared counterparts; while not yet proven to be a new object class, it highlights the potential for unseen astrophysical phenomena revealed by wide-field radio surveys and the need for simultaneous multiwavelength follow-up.

via Space Daily|

#askap #milky-way-center #polarization