The sensitivity of ALMA opens up the possibility that many distant gas and dust-rich galaxies may be serendipitously detected in the fields of galactic or nearby extragalactic sources. Yoichi Tamura and his collaborators have made a detection of this type while analyzing recent observations of the nearby (z = 0.02) luminous infrared galaxy VV114 (2014 ApJ 781, 39). Read more…

The VLA Sky Survey

The Science Organizing Committee of the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS), following the successful VLASS Science Planning Workshop on 5 Jan at the AAS, meeting, has formed the initial Science Survey Group (SSG), comprising a number of Science Working Groups (SWGs) that will constitute the forum for the discussions leading to the definition of the VLASS.  The primary goal of the SSG is to define the survey and write the science case for the survey proposal. Read more…

NRAO Student Awarded Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Medal

Congratulations to Diana Powell, a Research Experiences for Undergraduates student at NRAO, for winning the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Medal for her research and poster presentation at the 223rd American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. Read more…

Patent Issued to NRAO CDL Engineers

A transformative patent will be issued to Matt Morgan and Rick Fisher of the NRAO Central Development Laboratory (CDL) in Charlottesville, Virginia. Entitled Statistical Word Boundary Detection in Serialized Data Streams, this innovative development makes it possible to transmit digital data over optical fiber, or any data link, with far less overhead in the front-end than conventional digital data links would allow. Read more…

Astronomy across Africa

NRAO, in partnership with AUI, the National Society of Black Physicists, and the Committee for Status of Minorities in Astronomy co-sponsored a session titled Astronomy Across Africa – A New Dawn at the recent AAS meeting near Washington D.C. The session was envisioned and planned by Kartik Sheth (NRAO), Andrew Baker (Rutgers), and Joseph Lazio (JPL) with the main goal of introducing the AAS participants to various cutting edge multi-wavelength facilities that have are operating or are expected to be operating across the African continent. Read more…

Recent Press Releases

	‘Death Stars’ in Orion Blast Planets before They Even Form Mar 10: A team of astronomers from Canada and the United States has used ALMA to study the often deadly relationship between highly luminous O-type stars and nearby protostars in the Orion Nebula.
	ALMA Sees Icy Wreckage in Nearby Solar System Mar 10: Astronomers using the ALMA telescope have discovered the splattered remains of comets colliding together around a nearby star; the researchers believe they are witnessing the total destruction of one of these icy bodies once every five minutes.