What is the…

NationalRadioAstronomyObservatory?

Founded in 1956

NRAO

Open to all astronomers regardless of affiliation

The NRAO is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the terms of a cooperative agreement between the NSF and Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), a science management corporation.

State-of-the-art radio telescope facilities

Radio Astronomy

Radio wavelength observations address fundamental questions about our Universe:

• When and how did galaxies form in the early Universe?

• How do supermassive black holes form?

• How are stars and planets born?

Radio astronomy is essential to understanding what celestial objects are made of.

Radio Astronomy is the study of the invisible universe

We see the world around us because our eyes detect visible light, a type of electromagnetic radiation.

Objects on Earth and in space also emit other types of electromagnetic radiation that cannot be seen by the human eye.

The full range of radiation emitted by an object is called its electromagnetic spectrum.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Radiation is energy that travels and spreads out.

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is a phenomenon that takes the form of self-propagating waves consisting of electric and magnetic field components.

The EM spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of EM radiation.

The EM spectrum includes radio waves and visible light.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

All parts of the EM spectrum are fundamentally the same things:

A stream of photons

each traveling in a wave-like pattern

moving at the speed of light.

Photons are mass-less particles containing energy. The only difference between the types of EM radiation is the amount of that energy.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

EM Radiation Types

Longer waves Shorter waves

Lower energy Higher energy

In moredetail…

Terahertz radiation

NRAO Facilities

Facilities of the NRAO?

Green Bank, West Virginia

World’s most sensitive single-dish radio telescope.

GBT

World's largest land-based movable structure.

Facilities of the NRAO?

Socorro, New Mexico

Featured in these films:

• Carl Sagan’s Cosmos

• 2010

• The Arrival

• Contact

• Independence Day

• Terminator Salvation

An array of 27 radio telescopes that is among the most productive research tools in astronomy.

VLA

Facilities of the NRAO?

Very Long Baseline Array, North America

VLBA

World's largest dedicated, full-time astronomical instrument

Resolution 50 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope

Facilities of the NRAO?

Atacama desert, northern Chile

ALMA

Under construction in partnership with Europe, Japan, and Chile

Facilities of the NRAO?

NRAO Headquarters, Charlottesville, Virginia

You are here

Edgemont Road…

and the NRAO Technology Center (NTC)

The NRAO Library

Designing for radio waves

Long waves

Low energy

Radio waves

Capturing sufficient low energy radio waves for observation requires massive instruments.MASSIVE

Nice shadow

Green Bank Interferometer

Each arm is 13 miles long

Our arrays see the universe in ways not possible with optical instruments.

Optical view of M51 courtesy of NOAO

Composite images from the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey and the VLA

Engineers design, build, and maintain our instruments.

For instance, new state-of-the-art electronics and software will completely transform the VLA into the EVLA.

Staff: 3 professional librarians, 1 temp

The NRAO Library

Facilities: 1 site from 3

Collections: Physical, electronic, and web-based resources

Activities: Research assistance, acquisitions, data curation, statistics

Staff scientists and astronomers

Who does the NRAO Library support?

Staff engineers

Business and administration staff who do the rest of the work

Other observatories and institutions

NRAOPapers

NRAO Library Projects

ISSTT Proceedings

NRAO Theses

Publications digitization

Electronic access

Physical space

Pictures

Physical Tour