Ear-catching modular programs bringing the space-age science of radio astronomy down to earth! In celebration of its 50th Anniversary, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory brings you a series of brief insights into the fascinating world of deep space. Tune into the Universe with Cosmic Radio! http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/index.php Copyright (C) 2007 NRAO and Pocahontas Communications Cooperative. en-us sheather@nrao.edu (Sue Ann Heatherly) tjohnson@nrao.edu (Taylor Johnson) Science Hand-written by Taylor Johnson http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/images/cosmicradio.jpg http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/index.php Ear-catching modular programs bringing the space-age science of radio astronomy down to earth! In celebration of its 50th Anniversary, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory brings you a series of brief insights into the fascinating world of deep space. Tune into the Universe with Cosmic Radio! 340 340 Science No Ear-catching modular programs bringing the space-age science of radio astronomy down to earth! Ear-catching modular programs bringing the space-age science of radio astronomy down to earth! In celebration of its 50th Anniversary, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory brings you a series of brief insights into the fascinating world of deep space. Tune into the Universe with Cosmic Radio! NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) tjohnson@nrao.edu Taylor Johnson http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/images/cosmicradio.jpg http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/index.php Mighty Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is also a powerful radio transmitter! The dynamo driving Jupiter’s radio emission is a strong magnetic field. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-06-30-TJ-f0000026-v00001 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 jupiter http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Throughout history, women have had a tough time breaking into the physical sciences. And when they do, their contributions may go unnoticed for decades. This is the story of Ruby Payne Scott, the first female radio astronomer. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-06-23-TJ-f0000025-v00001 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 ruby payne scott http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php The Atacama desert in Chile is one of the driest places on earth. It’s also the site of a new telescope called the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-06-16-TJ-f0000024-v00001 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 alma atacama large millimeter array http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Dip a teaspoon in a pulsar, and pull out the equivalent of a full ocean tanker! Add the amazing fact that a pulsar can rotate up to 700 times a second and you have one of the most exotic objects in the Universe. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-06-09-TJ-f0000023-v00001 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 pulsars http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, actually has water ice in craters near the planet’s poles. Does the Moon also harbor water ice? It would be nice to have a ready-made source of water when astronauts return to set up a permanent lunar colony. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-06-02-TJ-f0000022-v00001 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 lunar water http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php What does a man do who’s bored with his hobby? Build the world’s first radio telescope in his mom’s backyard, of course! NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-05-26-TJ-f0000021-v00001 Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 grote reber http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Two days after Christmas 2004, spacecraft detected a giant flash of energy from thousands of light years away – the biggest, brightest explosion astronomers had ever seen. What was it? NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-05-19-TJ-f0000020-v00002 Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 magnetars http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Light pollution is a problem for optical astronomers. There is a problem just as severe for radio astronomers – radio frequency interference. Communications towers, satellites, and even home electronics like your iPod produce signals that swamp sensitive radio telescopes! NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-05-12-TJ-f0000019-v00002 Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 rfi radio frequency interference http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php 20/20 vision is a good thing. It means you can read a letter that’s about 1/4th of an inch high from a distance of 20 feet. Put that letter in Los Angeles. Now what if you could read it standing in New York? The Very Long Baseline Array can! NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-05-05-TJ-f0000018-v00002 Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 very long baseline array vlba http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php While some astronomers look for transmissions from other civilizations to search for evidence of life in the Milky Way, others search for interstellar chemicals that are necessary for life: organic molecules. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-04-28-TJ-f0000017-v00002 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 molecules http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php "A strong, unique pulsed signal came booming into the telescope just as soon as we had turned it towards the star Epsilon Eridani." These words of Frank Drake highlight the excitement surrounding the first search for intelligent life in the Milky Way. Drake called it “Project Ozma.” NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-04-21-TJ-f0000016-v00002 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 ozma http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Beautiful Blue Rigel. Ruby Red Betelgeuse. Our own Yellow Sun. Learn why stars are different colors and why the "color" of the Universe as a whole is in the radio part of the spectrum. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-04-14-TJ-f0000015-v00002 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 taking the temperature of the universe http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Most scientists agree that the Universe is expanding and that the expansion stems from an event that occurred some 14 billion years ago. That event is called the Big Bang. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-04-07-TJ-f0000014-v00002 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 big bang http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Orion the Hunter is the most easily recognized constellation in the night sky, and one of the most intensely studied regions of space. Find out why. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-03-31-TJ-f0000013-v00002 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 orion http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php One hundred and eighty light years away, a young star system is in the process of forming planets. This messy construction site is full of pebblesized debris, the forerunners of new planets. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-03-24-TJ-f0000012-v00002 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 planet pebbles http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Contrary to what you might think, radio astronomers don’t listen to the Universe; they often make images of it. Because of its size and sensitivity, the Very Large Array is one of the best imaging telescopes around. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-03-17-TJ-f0000011-v00002 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 the very large array vla socorro new mexica nm http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Giant spiral galaxies like the Milky Way may form by gobbling up smaller galaxies and clouds of gas. Radio astronomers have discovered the leftovers around our nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-03-10-TJ-f0000010-v00002 Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 galaxy building blocks http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Among the most beautiful objects in the Universe are spiral galaxies, swirling pinwheels containing billions of stars. It turns out that we live in one of these. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-03-03-TJ-f0000009-v00002 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 our place in the milk way http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php In our Galaxy, about once every 100 years, a massive star ends its life in an enormous explosion. This explosion can outshine the full moon. While the light fades away in a matter of weeks, the gas continues to glow in radio waves. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-02-25-TJ-f0000008-v00002 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 cassiopeia http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Galileo rocked the world when he turned his simple spyglass toward the sun and discovered sunspots. Since Galileo's time, studies of our star have revealed that Earth is in a very real sense, inside the sun. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-02-18-TJ-f0000007-v00002 Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 galileo and the sun http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php The Green Bank Telescope is so big you could put two football fields in its dish. This remarkable telescope, nestled in a rural West Virginia valley, is making fantastic discoveries. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-02-11-TJ-f0000006-v00002 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 the gbt green bank telescope http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php If you could see radio waves, what would the sky look like? Most of the bright dots in the radio sky are not stars, but emanations from black holes in distant galaxies! NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-02-04-TJ-f0000005-v00002 Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 the radio sky http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php All forms of electromagnetic energy, including light and radio waves, obey a cosmic speed limit: 186,000 miles per second! Even at that incredible speed, it takes a long time for light to reach us from the distant reaches of the Universe. What you learn in this segment will blow your mind! NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-01-28-TJ-f0000004-v00002 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 cosmic yardstick http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Your favorite radio station reaches you by transmitting radio waves to your radio. In this segment, we learn how cosmic objects communicate with astronomers through a similar mechanism. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-01-21-TJ-f0000003-v00002 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 recipe for radio waves http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php What do penicillin, Velcro and radio astronomy have in common? They were all accidental discoveries! Karl Jansky made the first discovery of cosmic radio waves in 1931. NRAO-CosmicRadio-2008-01-14-TJ-f0000002-v00002 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 how radio astronomy began http://www.nrao.edu/cosmicradio/archive.php Some of the most fascinating objects, like black holes, and some of the most basic of processes, like how stars are born and how they die, are best studied by radio telescopes. We invite you to learn more with Cosmic Radio. Welcome to the radio universe! NRAO-CosmicRadio-2007-10-29-TJ-f0000001-v00002 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT 00:02:32 welcome to cosmic radio