Lunchtime Wander & Chat
Women in Astronomy IV
2017 Jansky Lectureship Awarded to South African Astronomer Bernie Fanaroff
Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) have awarded the 2017 Jansky Lectureship to South African astronomer Bernie Fanaroff for his exceptional contributions to radio astronomy and his unparalleled leadership through public service. He is specifically recognized for his work with the South African Square Kilometer Array Radio Telescope Project (SKA).
ALMA’s Central Array on the Chajnantor plains
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) sits on the Chajnantor plains nearly 5,000 m above sea level and currently has 66 high precision antennas working together at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. There are three different types of antennas (European, North American, and Japanese antennas) found in ALMA that can be distinguished by the design of the wire on the main dish. The European antennas have simple wiring with no pattern underneath it. The wiring touches the edges of the dish and shaped like an X. On the other hand, the wiring of the Japanese antennas do not touch the edges of the dish, are shaped like lowercase-T and have a triangular-like pattern under the end of each wire. The wiring of the North American antennas also appears in the shape of a lowercase-T, however it is larger than the Japanese Antenna’s wiring since it touches the edge of the dish. There is also a triangular pattern found underneath the entire wire of the antenna.
Rainbow Over the VLA
The Very Large Array may sit in the New Mexico desert, but it’s not always dry. Summer monsoons bring much-needed rains to the desert.
Moonrise above North American Antenna at ALMA’s high site
The final North American ALMA antenna, number 25 of 25, rests under a setting Moon after a day of testing at the Operations Support Facility in northern Chile. The North American antennas in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) can be distinguished through two details with the wiring: The wiring touches the edge of the antenna’s dish and has a pattern of triangles underneath it, as you can see in the above photograph.