[meteorite-list] Arecibo Telescope's Global User Converge on Nation's Capital To Plan Threatened Observatory's Scientific Future

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:52:39 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200709150052.RAA12380_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Sept07/AreciboDC.html

Chronicle Online e-News

Arecibo telescope's global users converge on nation's capital to plan
threatened observatory's scientific future

Sept. 13, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than 70 astronomers gathered on Capitol Hill
this week, not to talk about the demise of a major national research
facility, but to plan for its scientific future. With optimism, the
group was planning the next 15 years of research for Puerto Rico's
Arecibo Observatory, the home of the world's largest radio telescope.

Despite proposed severe federal budget cuts for the observatory by
2011, the astronomers -- users from all over the world -- had enough
faith to plan for new research and new instrumentation on the
44-year-old telescope.

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and managed by
Cornell's National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), the
observatory already has reduced its current $8 million operating
budget by $2 million since last year, and funding will remain level
over the next three years. The budget reduction was the result of an
NSF Senior Review panel recommendation last year. Administrators at
the observatory and Cornell are working to secure funding and keep
the telescope working.

The packed meeting on Sept. 12 and 13 -- called "Frontiers of
Astronomy With the World's Largest Radio Telescope" -- created a
scientific case for keeping the 1,000-foot-diameter radio dish as a
premier and viable observatory.

"We need to conduct scientific outreach, tell our story and make our
points clearly," said James Cordes, Cornell professor of astronomy
and one of the meeting's organizers.

For two days, the astronomers heard more than 18 hours of scientific
presentations. They discussed pulsars, superfluids and time scales;
they waxed poetic on exoplanet bursts, gravitational waves, rotating
radio transients, magnetic fields and searches for extraterrestrial
life. This super brainstorming session sought ideas on exploiting
Arecibo's broad capabilities. And, of course, the astronomers
conferred about the possibility of asteroids hitting Earth.

"These presentations were descriptions of opportunities. We learned
about the new telescope instrumentation that must be planned now for
the future," said Robert Brown, director of the NAIC.

None of the suggestions will be implemented instantly. However, new
instruments might include signal processors and wider band receivers.
"Also the astronomers requested more telescope time," said Brown,
noting that Arecibo is currently oversubscribed to projects.

In addition to research, Cornell astronomer Martha Haynes is looking
to bolster the observatory's educational component. "We're generating
this huge data set, and we need more people to help generate research
from this data," she said.

To that effort, Haynes has spearheaded efforts to ensure that faculty
and undergraduate students from 14 smaller colleges -- such as
Colgate, Union, Humboldt State and the University of Puerto Rico --
participate in important Arecibo projects. "We have ... this great
national facility, and we have a duty to help undergraduate students
conduct studies at this great observatory," she said. "If we don't
offer opportunities to undergraduates at smaller colleges, then
astronomy will be in danger of being only for the elites."

Educational labors are serious: Under the direction of astronomy
professor Rick Jenet at the University of Texas (UT) at Brownsville,
a state-of-the-art, remote control room for Arecibo is being
constructed on his campus. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the
fictional bridge on the "Star Trek" starship Enterprise. Soon
undergraduate and graduate students at UT-Brownsville and local high
school students will be able to beam up orders and control Arecibo at
designated times.

At the meeting, the message was clear: There is a large volume of
work that can be done at Arecibo, now and many years into the future.
Said Haynes, "We need to think of clever ways to ensure astronomers
have access to the telescope, and we need all hands on deck to get
the work done."
Received on Fri 14 Sep 2007 08:52:39 PM PDT