In June of 2017, NRAO invited four artists to a conference at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to interpret the four science cases that will drive the design of the ngVLA. Cradle of Life by President of the International Aerospace Imagineering, Aldo Spadoni: “This piece symbolically portrays the proposed Next Generation Very Large Array over the state of New Mexico, looking north. It also represents the compelling future radio astronomy investigation areas… key to understanding the initial conditions that lead to the development of life.”
ngVLA Artist Impressions: Cradle of Life Sketches
In June of 2017, NRAO invited four artists to a conference at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to interpret the four science cases that will drive the design of the ngVLA. Cradle of Life sketches by President of the International Aerospace Imagineering, Aldo Spadoni.
Even Dense Neutron Stars Fall like a Feather
Harnessing the exquisite sensitivity of the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT), astronomers have given one of Einstein’s predictions on gravity its most stringent test yet. By precisely tracking the meanderings of three stars in a single system – two white dwarf stars and one ultra-dense neutron star – the researchers determined that even phenomenally compact neutron stars “fall” in the same manner as their less-dense counterparts, an aspect of nature called the “Strong Equivalence Principle.”
Tidal Disruption Event in Arp 299
Artist’s conception of Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) in Arp 299. Powerful gravity of supermassive black hole shreds passing star, pulling material into disk rotating around the black hole, and launching jet of particles outward. Artist’s conception in pullout — background is Hubble Space Telescope image of Arp 299, a pair of colliding galaxies.
Trio of Infant Planets Discovered around Newborn Star
Two independent teams of astronomers have uncovered convincing evidence that three young planets are in orbit around an infant star known as HD 163296. Using a new planet-finding strategy, the astronomers identified three discrete disturbances in a young star’s gas-filled disk: the strongest evidence yet that newly formed planets are in orbit there. These newly formed planets are depicted here in an artist impression.
A Young Galaxy
Artist impression of very young galaxy in the early universe.