@NAICobservatory@NSF While Arecibo has suffered from hurricane damage and funding issues for a while, this is likely the final nail in the coffin for this * iconic * telescope.
An absolutely heartbreaking moment for Puerto Rico, the astronomy community, and all the fans of the observatory.
(2/n)
For decades, Arecibo has been a source of immense pride for communities across Puerto Rico, and I want to acknowledge all that it meant to so many people. 🥺🙏🏾
I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend checking out #WhatAreciboMeansToMe for myriad personal stories about the telescope.
(3/n)
Today, I want to highlight some of the most significant discoveries made using Arecibo over its ~60 years of operation.
Put on your radio astronomy hats, because it's about to get nerdy! We have pulsars, planetary science, aliens and more!!! 🌟🪐👽🔭📻
(4/n)
Arecibo is a radio telescope - it collects radio waves, not visible light.
Astronomy always relies on using various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to give us different kinds of insight - @NASAHubble uses visible and infrared light, @chandraxray uses X-rays, etc!
Mercury's rotation period was measured to be 59 days, not 88 days as previously believed! It was one of the most precise modern studies of our innermost planetary neighbour.
(6/n)
@NASAHubble@chandraxray The Crab Pulsar (within the Crab Nebula) had its rotation period measured in 1968 by Arecibo - it spins once every 33 MILLISECONDS!!!
This led to the first studies connecting pulsars to rapidly spinning neutron stars, the end products of stellar explosions.
(7/n)
@NASAHubble@chandraxray In 1974, Arecibo was turned into a GIANT transmitter for SETI - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence!!! 👽👾🛸
A single message was sent in the direction of the star cluster M13, carried on radio waves emitted by Arecibo. The message was coded in binary digits ...
(8/n)
@NASAHubble@chandraxray ... and contained numbers, chemical formulae, graphics of human beings and the telescope, and more! (click on image below)
While it was a demonstration of technological ability rather than a serious way of contacting alien life, it was still historic for astronomy!
(9/n)
@NASAHubble@chandraxray Arecibo revisited Mercury in 1992 and found evidence for ice at the planet's north and south poles!!!
Despite the planet's SEARING daytime temperatures over 700F, ice still exists in shadows and nooks at the poles. This has been confirmed by probes since then.
(10/n)
1992 was a big year for Arecibo - it was also involved in the detection of the FIRST EVER EXOPLANET 🪐🔭
While today we know of thousands of extra-solar worlds thanks to missions like Kepler, at the time this was a monumental discovery, leading to an explosion of ...
(11/n)
... exoplanet science in coming years. In this case, Arecibo observed the pulsar PSR B1257+12, around which 3 planets were discovered, making them the first worlds we had ever observed outside our solar system.
(12/n)
Recently, in 2016, Arecibo was used to detect the first ever *repeating fast radio burst (FRB).
FRB's are still a big mystery to astronomers - they are super quick bursts of radio waves originating from outside our galaxy. Their origins are still unknown!
(13/n)
Until 2016, Arecibo was also the LARGEST single-dish radio telescope in the world, measuring at 305m in diameter! This behemoth sits in a natural sinkhole located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
In July 2016, it was surpassed by the 500m FAST telescope in China, seen below.
(14/n)
Due to its significance, Arecibo has also enamoured the minds of the public through popular media. It most prominently featured in both the book and movie Contact (by Carl Sagan). 📖🎬
(15/n)
In 2015, I had the incredible privilege of observing at Arecibo as an undergrad; an experience that remains fresh in my mind to this day.
This observatory meant so much to me, and I will forever cherish the moments I got to spend there. #WhatAreciboMeansToMe
(16/n)
RIP, Arecibo. You were truly one of a kind.
(source: Dank Matter Astrophysics Memes)
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I'm late to tweet today so please accept this bonus story: The Telescope That Fell Down
For this we head to Green Bank Observatory, in the US National Radio Quiet Zone in West Virginia.
In 1988 it was home to the 300 Foot radio telescope.
Isn’t it gorgeous? and TALL?...
The Radio Quiet Zone is a fascinating place, with strict restrictions on tech use to minimize radio noise.
In a 20mi radius around the observatory, Wi-Fi, cell phones, and microwaves are banned. Vehicles even run on diesel to prefer interference from gas-engine ignition sparks.
(there’s a great mini-story from this observatory about one particular astronomer who drove a clunky old car that always showed up as interference in the telescope data, to the point where they could tell when he was arriving at the site)
Hi all, in my intro I said I was a cosmochemist. What does this mean? For practical purposes, it means I use meteorites and other extraterrestrial samples to understand the origin and evolution of the chemical elements in space. So I think I’ll start with a primer on meteorites
Meteorites are rocks that fall from outer space. Really large ones kill dinosaurs, somewhat large ones make big holes in the ground, but most are small (from sub-millimeter to meter size) and provide extremely valuable scientific information
The vast majority of meteorites come from asteroids (a tiny fraction are known to come from the Moon and Mars), small rock bodies orbiting the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter . How do we know this?
Peridot - Story Thread #2 (the siege dragged on ...)
Let's start with the color, because peridot has a really nice color. Not an emerald green or forest green, peridot is sort of greeny/yellow. It has a characteristic golden glow.
(pic from Smithsonian Inst. Geogallery)
The color is a great match for the spirit Chartreuse or say Absinthe (cough, ahem). Since I make gemstone stuffs for fun (as in pic), it is very appealing to me to imagine the Earth is filled with gems (however inaccurate that might be.)
But I really enjoy the idea that touching peridot is touching the inside of a planet. Olivine is not uncommon around volcanic craters (depending on magma composition.) Some, like the Kilborne Hole in New Mexico, are famous for their olivine (Pix BLM and wikipedia).
Good time-zone dependent morning, everyone! Today I'm going to talk about the research I did for my PhD project, looking at the remnants of planetary systems at white dwarfs. Lets talk about the end of the world(s)!
As I mentioned yesterday, white dwarfs are the left over cores of stars that have run out of hydrogen and helium to power nuclear fusion in their cores. Every star less than about 8 times the mass of the Sun will follow the top track here, ending up as a white dwarf.
What we're left with is a tiny, dense ball of carbon and oxygen (the products of helium fusion), surrounded by a layer of helium then, 80% of the time, a thin layer of hydrogen. There are some variations, but that's what your typical white dwarf is like.
PHAETHON TIME
(a thread on asteroid (3200) Phaethon, why I like it, and how and why we can study things that look like dead comets)
I'll start with a small anecdote as to how I got introduced to Phaethon. Back in August, I mentioned to my advisor that I would be going to Hawaii to observe an asteroid sometime during that semester (fall 2017).
He asked if I was going to observe Phaethon and I said I wasn't sure and didn't know what Phaethon was. He said something like "You should look it up, it's pretty cool." Which, again, is science-talk for "this thing is nuts."