Tatiana López is an aerospace engineering student at the University of Concepción in Chile, and a certified PROVOCA Mentor, an AUI/NRAO program that promotes and supports young women pursuing STEM vocations in Chile. She is also the only Latin American woman that participated in the Asclepios II Mission, a Switzerland-based analog space program designed by and for students that required two years of training followed by 15 days in an underground Moon simulation at the former Gotthard Mountain military fortress located in the Swiss Alps. 

Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)— in which the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a partner— to study planet formation have made the first-ever detection of gas in a circumplanetary disk. What’s more, the detection also suggests the presence of a very young exoplanet.

Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)— an international observatory co-operated by the US National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)— have for the first time recorded millimeter-wavelength light from a fiery explosion caused by the merger of a neutron star with another star. The team also confirmed this flash of light to be one of the most energetic short-duration gamma-ray bursts ever observed, leaving behind one of the most luminous afterglows on record.

Following a generous grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) will soon launch a two-year project to engage BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students in learning about the electromagnetic spectrum and the excitement of amateur— also called ham— radio.

A team of engineers testing the design efficiency of reflectors for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s upcoming next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) has received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Harold A. Wheeler Applications Prize Paper Award.

Radio astronomers usually learn about the universe by passively observing the sky. But sometimes radio astronomy can be a bit more active. Join our host Summer Ash of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory as she talks about how astronomers can use radar to understand our astronomical neighbors in new and interesting ways.

Six outstanding high school seniors were awarded the 2021 AUI Scholarship. Among the recipients were five children of NRAO staff members.

Six NAC alums have accepted offers from outstanding graduate programs around the country. Each will receive a $5,000 AUI Board of Trustees NAC Bridge Scholarship Award, with AUI and NRAO’s congratulations and best wishes for a smooth start to an exciting new chapter of their lives.

Astronomers using data from the VLA Sky Survey have discovered one of the youngest known neutron stars — possibly as young as only 14 years. The dense remnant of a supernova explosion was revealed when bright radio emission powered by the pulsar’s powerful magnetic field emerged from behind a thick shell of debris from the explosion.

While using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe large star-forming regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), scientists discovered a turbulent push-and-pull dynamic in the star-forming region, 30 Doradus. Observations revealed that despite intense stellar feedback, gravity is shaping the molecular cloud, and against scientific odds, is driving the ongoing formation of young, massive stars.