What is the…
National
Radio
Astronomy
Observatory?
NRAO
Founded in 1956
State-of-the-art radio telescope facilities
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.
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 selfpropagating 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 more
detail…
Terahertz radiation
NRAO Facilities
Facilities of the NRAO?
Green Bank, West Virginia
World's most
World’s
largestsensitive
land-based
single-dish
radio telescope.
movable
structure.
GBT
Facilities of the NRAO?
VLA
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.
Facilities of the NRAO?
VLBA
Very Long Baseline Array, North America
World's largest
dedicated, fulltime astronomical
instrument
Resolution 50
times that of the
Hubble Space
Telescope
Facilities of the NRAO?
ALMA
Atacama desert, northern Chile
Under construction in partnership with Europe, Japan, and Chile
Facilities of the NRAO?
NRAO Headquarters, Charlottesville, Virginia
You are
The
NRAO
here
Library
Edgemont Road…
and the NRAO Technology Center (NTC)
Designing for radio waves
Radio waves
Long waves
Low energy
Capturing sufficient low
energy radio waves for
observation requires
massive instruments.
Nice shadow
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-theart electronics and software
will completely transform the
VLA into the EVLA.
The NRAO Library
Staff: 3 professional librarians, 1 temp
Facilities: 1 site from 3
Collections: Physical, electronic, and web-based resources
Activities: Research assistance, acquisitions, data curation, statistics
Who does the NRAO Library support?
Staff scientists and astronomers
Staff engineers
Business and administration staff who do the rest of the work
Other observatories and institutions
NRAO Library Projects
NRAOPapers
Publications digitization
ISSTT Proceedings
Electronic access
NRAO Theses
Physical space
Physical Tour