Through funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Associated Universities Inc. (AUI), Tumble Media and the STEM Transformation Institute at Florida International University (FIU) are collaborating to support the STEM identity and literacy development of regionally and culturally diverse Latine families through podcast-initiated science talk at home. Seventeen episodes will be recorded for this project in Spanish and English.
Recent News
Unlock the Secrets of the Invisible Radio Universe with SuperKnova
The NSF NRAO is excited to announce that, thanks to a generous grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), learners can now enroll in two self-paced courses to learn the fundamentals of radio communications.
Astronomers Make Highest-Resolution Observations Ever from Earth
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has conducted test observations with the highest resolution ever obtained from the surface of the Earth. This feat was achieved by detecting light from distant galaxies at a frequency of around 345 GHz, equivalent to a wavelength of 0.87 mm. The Collaboration estimates that, in the future, they will be able to make black hole images 50% more detailed than before. This improvement will sharpen images of supermassive black holes, and allow astronomers to image more black holes than ever before.
Spotted: ‘Death Star’ Black Holes in Action
Abell 478 and NGC 5044 (Labeled)
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Bologna/F. Ubertosi; Insets Radio: NSF/AUI/NRAO/VLBA; Wide field Image: Optical/IR: Univ. of Hawaii/Pan-STARRS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
Huge black holes are firing powerful beams of particles into space — and then changing their aim to fire at new targets. This discovery, made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NRAO) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), shows what kind of widespread impact black holes can have on their surrounding galaxy and beyond.
A team of astronomers looked at 16 supermassive black holes in galaxies surrounded by hot gas detected in X-rays by Chandra. Using radio data from the VLBA, operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, they studied the directions of beams — also known as jets — of particles fired a few light-years away from the black holes. This gives the scientists a picture of where each beam is currently pointed, as seen from Earth. Each black hole fires two beams in opposite directions.
The team then used Chandra data to study pairs of cavities, or bubbles, in the hot gas that were created in the past by the beams pushing gas outwards. The locations of large outer cavities indicate the direction those beams pointed millions of years earlier. The researchers then compared the directions of the radio beams with the directions of the pairs of cavities. Read the full release.
This news article was originally published on the NRAO website on May 22, 2024.
Recent News
Exploring How STEM Identities are Formed
Through funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Associated Universities Inc. (AUI), Tumble Media and the STEM Transformation Institute at Florida International University (FIU) are collaborating to support the STEM identity and literacy development of regionally and culturally diverse Latine families through podcast-initiated science talk at home. Seventeen episodes will be recorded for this project in Spanish and English.
Unlock the Secrets of the Invisible Radio Universe with SuperKnova
The NSF NRAO is excited to announce that, thanks to a generous grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), learners can now enroll in two self-paced courses to learn the fundamentals of radio communications.
Astronomers Make Highest-Resolution Observations Ever from Earth
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has conducted test observations with the highest resolution ever obtained from the surface of the Earth. This feat was achieved by detecting light from distant galaxies at a frequency of around 345 GHz, equivalent to a wavelength of 0.87 mm. The Collaboration estimates that, in the future, they will be able to make black hole images 50% more detailed than before. This improvement will sharpen images of supermassive black holes, and allow astronomers to image more black holes than ever before.