Record-breaking radio astronomy project

[Nickelson Profile]

Astronomers will tie together the largest collection of the world's radio telescopes ever assembled to work as a single observing tool in a project aimed at improving the precision of the reference frame scientists use to measure positions in the sky.



For 24 hours, starting November 18, and ending November 19, 35 radio telescopes located on seven continents will observe 243 distant quasars.

The quasars, galaxies with supermassive black holes at their cores, are profuse emitters of radio waves, and also are so distant that, despite their actual motions in space, they appear stationary as seen from Earth.

This lack of apparent motion makes them ideal celestial landmarks for anchoring a grid system, similar to earthly latitude and longitude, used to mark the positions of celestial objects.

Data from all the radio telescopes will be combined to make them work together as a system capable of measuring celestial positions with extremely high precision.

The technique used, called very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), has been used for decades for both astronomical and geodetic research.

However, no previous position-measuring observation has used as many radio telescopes or observed as many objects in a single session.

The previous record was a 23-telescope observation.

The new reference frame uses a set of 295 quasars to define positions, much like surveyor's benchmarks in a suburban subdivision.

Because even with 35 radio telescopes around the world, there are some gaps in sky coverage, the upcoming observation will observe 243 of the 295.

By observing so many quasars in a single observing session, problems of linking positions from one observing session to another can be avoided, according to the astronomers.

The result will be a much stronger, more precise, reference grid.

Telescopes in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America, Antarctica, and in the Pacific will participate.

Improving the celestial positional grid will allow astronomers better to pinpoint the locations and measure the motions of objects in the sky.

As astronomers increasingly study objects using multiple telescopes observing at different wavelengths, such as visible light, radio, infrared, the improved positional grid will allow more accurate overlaying of the different images.

The improved celestial reference frame also strengthens a terrestrial reference frame used for radio-telescope measurements that contribute to geophysical research.

In addition to my post on the discovery on a massive new Sun found with radio telescopes
close-up-movie-shows-hidden-details-in-birth-of-super-suns-t11856.html

The youthful cluster cannot be seen with traditional telescopes because of the surrounding gas and dust

Unlike Hubble and other visible-light telescopes, radio telescopes can penetrate dusty veils around stars.

So all together this is pretty amazing news. We can and will discover more hidden secrets of space, than ever before.

[Nickelson Profile]

Because even with 35 radio telescopes around the world, there are some gaps in sky coverage, the upcoming observation will observe 243 of the 295 Quasars.

Quasar: "A quasi-stellar radio source (quasar) is a very energetic and distant galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. Quasars were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than extended sources similar to galaxies."


Artist's impression of quasar GB1508


Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD Press RELEASE: 96-244

Two teams of astronomers are releasing dramatic Hubble Space Telescope images today, which show that quasars live in a remarkable variety of galaxies, many of which are violently colliding. This complicated picture suggests there may be a variety of mechanisms -- some quite subtle -- for "turning on" quasars, the universe's most energetic objects. The Hubble researchers are intrigued by the fact that the quasars studied do not appear to have obviously damaged the galaxies in which they live. This could mean that quasars are relatively short-lived phenomena which many galaxies, including the Milky Way, experienced long ago.

[Nickelson Profile]

I think this will lead to new astonishing facts that will shake up the whole astronomical world and create new theories.

Just look out for the braking news!



Note to my wife "Space the final frontier"