[meteorite-list] Arecibo Telescope's Global User Converge on Nation's Capital To Plan Threatened Observatory's Scientific Future

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Sept07/AreciboDC.html

Chronicle Online e-News

Arecibo telescope's global users converge on nation's capital to plan 
threatened observatory's scientific future

Sept. 13, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than 70 astronomers gathered on Capitol Hill 
this week, not to talk about the demise of a major national research 
facility, but to plan for its scientific future. With optimism, the 
group was planning the next 15 years of research for Puerto Rico's 
Arecibo Observatory, the home of the world's largest radio telescope.

Despite proposed severe federal budget cuts for the observatory by 
2011, the astronomers -- users from all over the world -- had enough 
faith to plan for new research and new instrumentation on the 
44-year-old telescope.

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and managed by 
Cornell's National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), the 
observatory already has reduced its current $8 million operating 
budget by $2 million since last year, and funding will remain level 
over the next three years. The budget reduction was the result of an 
NSF Senior Review panel recommendation last year. Administrators at 
the observatory and Cornell are working to secure funding and keep 
the telescope working.

The packed meeting on Sept. 12 and 13 -- called "Frontiers of 
Astronomy With the World's Largest Radio Telescope" -- created a 
scientific case for keeping the 1,000-foot-diameter radio dish as a 
premier and viable observatory.

"We need to conduct scientific outreach, tell our story and make our 
points clearly," said James Cordes, Cornell professor of astronomy 
and one of the meeting's organizers.

For two days, the astronomers heard more than 18 hours of scientific 
presentations. They discussed pulsars, superfluids and time scales; 
they waxed poetic on exoplanet bursts, gravitational waves, rotating 
radio transients, magnetic fields and searches for extraterrestrial 
life. This super brainstorming session sought ideas on exploiting 
Arecibo's broad capabilities. And, of course, the astronomers 
conferred about the possibility of asteroids hitting Earth.

"These presentations were descriptions of opportunities. We learned 
about the new telescope instrumentation that must be planned now for 
the future," said Robert Brown, director of the NAIC.

None of the suggestions will be implemented instantly. However, new 
instruments might include signal processors and wider band receivers. 
"Also the astronomers requested more telescope time," said Brown, 
noting that Arecibo is currently oversubscribed to projects.

In addition to research, Cornell astronomer Martha Haynes is looking 
to bolster the observatory's educational component. "We're generating 
this huge data set, and we need more people to help generate research 
from this data," she said.

To that effort, Haynes has spearheaded efforts to ensure that faculty 
and undergraduate students from 14 smaller colleges -- such as 
Colgate, Union, Humboldt State and the University of Puerto Rico -- 
participate in important Arecibo projects. "We have ... this great 
national facility, and we have a duty to help undergraduate students 
conduct studies at this great observatory," she said. "If we don't 
offer opportunities to undergraduates at smaller colleges, then 
astronomy will be in danger of being only for the elites."

Educational labors are serious: Under the direction of astronomy 
professor Rick Jenet at the University of Texas (UT) at Brownsville, 
a state-of-the-art, remote control room for Arecibo is being 
constructed on his campus. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the 
fictional bridge on the "Star Trek" starship Enterprise. Soon 
undergraduate and graduate students at UT-Brownsville and local high 
school students will be able to beam up orders and control Arecibo at 
designated times.

At the meeting, the message was clear: There is a large volume of 
work that can be done at Arecibo, now and many years into the future. 
Said Haynes, "We need to think of clever ways to ensure astronomers 
have access to the telescope, and we need all hands on deck to get 
the work done."