News Release – Page 25 – National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Study of Young Chaotic Star System Reveals Planet Formation Secrets

A team of scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the young star Elias 2-27 have confirmed that gravitational instabilities play a key role in planet formation, and have for the first time directly measured the mass of protoplanetary disks using gas velocity data, potentially unlocking one of the mysteries of planet formation.

Twenty galaxies in the nearby universe shown as ALMA and Hubble Space Telescope composites. They are shown in orange and red to highlight their different structures, including spirals, rings, S shapes, and more.

Cosmic Cartographers Map Nearby Universe Revealing the Diversity of Star-Forming Galaxies

A team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has completed the first census of molecular clouds in the nearby Universe. The study produced the first images of nearby galaxies with the same sharpness and quality as optical imaging and revealed that stellar nurseries do not all look and act the same. In fact, they’re as diverse as the people, homes, neighborhoods, and regions that make up our own world.

Qorvo Provides Key Enabling Technology for Identifying, Mapping and Tracking Threats from Near-Earth Objects

NRAO, Green Bank Telescope, and Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S) are working in collaboration to improve planetary radar capabilities. With the addition of Qorvo’s Spatium power amplifier technology, the project now has the power to identify and characterize even small NEOs earlier with more precision.

Jets from Massive Protostars Might be Very Different from Lower-Mass Systems, Astronomers Find

A highly-detailed VLA image indicates that the jets of material propelled outward by young stars much more massive than the Sun may be very different from those ejected by less-massive young stars.

NRAO Selects Contractor for Next-Generation VLA Antenna Development

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory has selected a contractor to develop a production-ready design and build a prototype antenna for the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA). The ngVLA is proposed as an array of 263 dish antennas spread across North America to form a cutting-edge scientific tool for the coming decades.

IMAGE RELEASE: New Look at a Bright Stellar Nursery

New, high-resolution VLA images of a giant molecular cloud where new stars are being born show changes since a set of observations made more than two decades ago. Tracking changes in this region over time can reveal new details about the process of star formation and the interactions of outflows from young stars.

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