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Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) made a rare detection of a likely stellar flyby event in the Z Canis Majoris (Z CMa) star system. An intruder—not bound to the system—object came in close proximity to and interacted with the environment surrounding the binary protostar, causing the formation of chaotic, stretched-out streams of dust and gas in the disk surrounding it.

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Pulsars are neutron stars. They are formed when an old star explodes as a supernova, so you would expect to find them in the center of its supernova remnant. But not always. Astronomers have learned that some pulsars are ejected from its remnant. The Very Large Array has discovered one pulsar that is quite a kick. Join our host Summer Ash of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory as she talks about how you can get a kick out of pulsars.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the board of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have approved a multi-million dollar upgrade project for the Observatory’s 1.3mm (Band 6) receivers through the North American ALMA Development Program. The receivers—originally built, and to be upgraded, by the Central Development Laboratory (CDL) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)—are the most scientifically productive in ALMA’s lineup.

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La National Science Foundation (NSF) de los Estados Unidos y el Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) aprobaron un proyecto de actualización multimillonario para los receptores de 1.3 mm (Banda 6) del observatorio a través del Programa de Desarrollo de ALMA de Norteamérica. Los receptores, originalmente construidos y que serán mejorados por el Laboratorio Central de Desarrollo (CDL) en el Observatorio Nacional de Radioastronomía (NRAO), son los más productivos, desde el punto de vista científico, en la gama de ALMA.

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Astronomical radar has been around for decades, but in recent years the method has become much more powerful. New transmitter technology and sensitive radio arrays give astronomers a wealth of data. You can see this, for example, in a collaboration between Green Bank Observatory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The project has created high-resolution images of the lunar surface, and that’s just the beginning.

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Released in November 2021, the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey—Astro2020—emphasized the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the field of astrophysics. The inclusion of DEI initiatives in the report signals a shift in the industry, one for which the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and its partners have been building a foundation for over a decade.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Central Development Laboratory (CDL) $250,000 in Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) funding to support the proof-of-concept development of high-performance reflectionless radio frequency filters at 40 GHz and above for high-frequency applications, including wireless and defense. 

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Astronomers used the VLA to trace a corkscrew-shaped magnetic field in a powerful jet of material ejected from the core of a massive galaxy farther away from the central galaxy's central black hole than ever seen before.

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The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has given high priority to the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) for the next decade of research at the frontiers of astronomy and astrophysics.

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Scientists studying SPT0311-58 found H20, along with carbon monoxide in the galaxy, which is located nearly 12.88 billion light years from Earth. Detection of these two molecules in abundance suggests that the molecular Universe was going strong shortly after the elements were forged in early stars.

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Gracias al Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), un equipo de astrónomos que estaba observando el Universo cercano acaba de terminar el mayor estudio de alta resolución realizado a la fecha sobre el material incubador de estrellas presente en cúmulos de galaxias. De esa forma, los científicos buscaron respuesta a un antiguo misterio de la astrofísica: ¿qué provoca la muerte de las galaxias? Los resultados de esta investigación, que proporcionan los indicios más fehacientes hasta ahora de que los ambientes extremos inciden considerablemente en las galaxias, se publicarán en la próxima edición de The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

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Astronomers examining the nearby Universe with the help of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have just completed the largest high-resolution survey of star-forming fuel ever conducted in galaxy clusters. But more importantly, they’re tackling a long-standing mystery in astrophysics: what’s killing galaxies? The research, which provides the clearest evidence to date that extreme environments in space have severe impacts on the galaxies within them, will be published in an upcoming edition of The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

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Young stars often have disks of gas and dust around them, and many of these disks have gaps within them. How do astronomers know that these gaps are caused by young planets and not some other effect?

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Early massive galaxies—those that formed in the three billion years following the Big Bang—should have contained large amounts of cold hydrogen gas, the fuel required to make stars. But scientists observing the early Universe with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted something strange: half a dozen early massive galaxies that ran out of fuel.

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The National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory and National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and Raytheon Intelligence & Space have released new high-resolution images of the Moon, the highest-ever taken from the ground, using new radar technology on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT).

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Una colaboración internacional de científicos utilizó el Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) para completar el mapeo de composición química más extenso que exista de los discos protoplanetarios alrededor de cinco estrellas jóvenes cercanas en alta resolución. De esta manera, generaron imágenes que capturan la composición molecular asociada a nacimientos planetarios, y una hoja de ruta para futuros estudios sobre la composición de las regiones de formación de planetas y cometas. La nueva investigación revela pistas sobre el rol de las moléculas en la formación del sistema planetario y si estos jóvenes sistemas planetarios en formación tienen lo que se necesita para albergar vida.

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An international collaboration of scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has completed the most extensive chemical composition mapping of the protoplanetary disks around five nearby young stars at high resolution, producing images that capture the molecular composition associated with planetary births, and a roadmap for future studies of the makeup of planet- and comet-forming regions.

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A new set of receivers installed on antennas at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have achieved first light. With it, they set a new record for the longest wavelengths visible with the radio array.

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The Very Large Array Sky Survey gave astronomers the first clue that ultimately revealed a dramatic story -- the remnant of a star that exploded long ago had plunged into the core of its companion star causing it, too, to explode as a supernova.

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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory has named Dr. Patricia (Trish) Henning as its next Assistant Director for New Mexico Operations. In that role, she will lead the operations of the Very Large Array, the Very Long Baseline Array, and the Domenici Science Operations Center in Socorro, NM.