The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is presenting an award to a pioneering team of scientists and engineers who combined an orbiting radio-astronomy satellite with ground-based radio telescopes around the world to produce a “virtual telescope” nearly three times the size of the Earth. The team, which includes two scientists from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), will receive the award in a ceremony Sunday, October 16, in Fukuoka, Japan.


Observatory Sponsoring Astronomical Image Contest
Forget the headphones you saw in the Warner Brothers thriller Contact, as well as the guttural throbs emanating from loudspeakers at the Very Large Array in that 1997 movie.

NRAO Astronomer Wins Max-Planck Research Award
Dr Christopher Carilli, a National Radio Astronomy Observatory astronomer in Socorro, New Mexico, has been chosen to receive the prestigious Max Planck Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Max Planck Society in Germany.

Riccardo Giaconni to Receive National Medal of Science
Riccardo Giacconi, very recently retired President of Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), will be awarded the National Medal of Science by President George W. Bush on March 14, according to the White House.

American Astronomical Society Honors NRAO Scientist
The American Astronomical Society has awarded its prestigious George Van Biesbroeck Prize to Dr Eric Greisen of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico.

Astronomers Break Ground on ALMA
Scientists and dignitaries from North America, Europe, and Chile broke ground today (Thursday, November 6, 2003) on what will be the world’s largest, most sensitive radio telescope operating at millimeter wavelengths.