radio waves from space. We have
software engineers that specialize
in telescope control or in analyzing
and processing the data that come
in. There are mechanical engineers
that design and repair the large
dishes. It’s a diverse bunch that we
have here and it takes a lot of different kinds of talent to run an observatory.”
Q:
With the sheer amount of
data being accumulated,
is it possible that things are
missed only to be discovered in future analysis of the data?
discovery, and once a team from
a high school thinks they’ve found
something, there’s a protocol they
go through to confirm it. Eventually they get to use the Green Bank
Telescope for re-observation and ultimate confirmation. A paper is just
now being published in the Astrophysical Journal about the first half
dozen or so new pulsars found by
these teams of students.
“That is an example of high school
students who are interested in science and doing real research. It’s
not that different from how I started
and it’s great.”
“We’re begining to get an understanding of this very massive gas
cloud -- a million times the mass of
the Sun -- that is on a trajectory to
intersect the Milky Way in maybe
30 million years. It’s liable to cause
bursts of star formation on the other
side of our galaxy. It’s a fascinating object and there is so much we
don’t understand about it yet.”
Q:
What’s left out there to
discover for the next generation of astronomers?
Lockman: “By now the astron-
omers of the world have taken a quick look at the entire
into an archive so that peosky. But what we’ve realized
ple interested in looking at it
is that there are things out
again, or reprocessing it, can
there that could be flickerdo so. But this brings up an
ing on and off, and that were
interesting point related to
off when we were looking at
your previous question. There
them.
are objects in space that we
“That’s the whole new
call pulsars: the collapsed
area of time domain asremnant of a star that has extronomy, just getting started,
ploded. A pulsar has about
monitoring the sky over and
the same amount of matover again, and looking for
ter as our Sun, which is a lot,
these odd bursts of light, rabut its size is just a few miles
dio waves or X-rays that may
be coming from objects we
across. It’s very dense. Pulsars
haven’t discovered yet.
emit beams of radio waves.
They rotate like a lighthouse
“There’s a huge amount of
and the radio beams sweep
research to do as well in simacross the Earth. We can see
ply accounting for the basic
constituents of the universe
pulsars to great distances
as they evolve over time. We
and they are like little clocks
out there in the Milky Way.
know that there is this stuff
The receiver room at the top of the Green Bank Telescope.
“We’re always interested
called dark matter. Dark matPhoto: Walter Scriptunas II
in finding new pulsars, in
ter is what holds galaxies tonew locations, and with new
gether. It supplies the gravity
properties. But searching for pulsars
One of the items you’ve that keeps the Sun from flying out of
is a very data intensive process.
been studying recently is the Milky Way, yet we really do not
Once you scan an area of the sky
a giant cloud of gas. What have a clue as to what this stuff is.
with a radio telescope, looking for have we learned about it?
“It’s amazing to me how much
the faint pulses that might only be
we have learned during the course
a milli-second long, you have this Lockman: “That’s a very inter- of my career. And yet knowledge
huge amount of data. Turns out that esting gas cloud. Its existence has in one area doesn’t always conit is very efficient to use the human been known for about 50 years. But nect up with knowledge in another.
eye to look at this pattern to distin- until recently no one quite under- I have this image of islands of understood where it was or what it was.
guish a signal from the noise.
standing sitting apart in an ocean of
“Using the Green Bank Telescope, ignorance. We can see the islands,
“Scientists and educators at
Green Bank and West Virginia Uni- we were able to map its hydrogen but we don’t necessarily have the
versity are collaborating with teams with the highest precision that has bridges between one island and
of high school students to examine been possible. And what looked another island. And new islands appulsar search data and try to dis- like a blob in earlier studies was re- pear all the time. There’s still a lot of
cover new pulsars. They’ve had re- vealed to be this huge structure that discovery to be made and a lot of
ally good success so far. Its genuine resembles a comet.
these connections to be made.”
Lockman: “The data go
Q:
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