"A bit of me feels that the horse has bolted and we're in catch-up mode at this point."
But: "There's a social good element to what the satellite operators are doing and you've got to balance that against possible impacts to things like radio astronomy."
If you haven't noticed, radio astronomers worldwide are getting very shouty at radio frequency interference (RFI - akin to light pollution) increasing.
We create these multi-billion, grand-scale projects in specifically legislated radio quiet zones away from human populations to ensure we have the best capabilities to detect the faintest signals from the furthers reaches of the cosmos.
Then along comes the RFI from satellite constellations.
#Enshittification of the sky continues: After shitting in optical #astronomy pool, new exciting development appears: to shit all over both optical and #radioastronomy at once!
Whoever can, please send your opinion to FCC. No need to be US citizen. #Sky is for billions, not for billionaires.
♲ mastodon.social/
Bad news for radio astronomy AND optical astronomy. Not only is 'Supplemental Coverage from Space' (aka direct-to-cell) transmission unregulated at this point, but the 2nd generation of #BlueBird satellites will be monstrously large reflectors of sunlight.
I forgot to post this a couple weeks back! It was the 20-year anniversary of one of the first exoplanets
ever found - and it was lurking around a pulsar!
Draugr (Norse for "undead creatures") is one of three planets that orbits the pulsar Lich (also an undead creature).
The official name of the system is PSR B1257+12 and it features the three planets in orbit around the nasty pulsar.
It's located about 1900 light-years away in the constellation Virgo and was discovered in 1994, two years after the first two exoplanets were found around Lich.
The EXTREMELY NEAT thing about Draugr is that, to date, it remains the least massive exoplanet ever discovered, even when compared to the planets in our Solar System - which tells us something!
Found through pulsar timing, its mass is only ~2 times the lunar mass.
Looking at eclipses with radio telescope also gives us insightful info into the active regions of the Sun (like sunspots) as well as helping study background sources twinkling in the Solar wind.
Some stills from Emil Lenc’s video of a partial solar eclipse (2023) seen by CSIRO’s ASKAP 📡📡📡📡📡
Universe Today discusses the field of radio astronomy with Dr. Wael Farah, who is a research scientist at the SETI Institute, about how radio astronomy teaches us about the myriad of celestial objects that populate our universe, along with the benefits and challenges, finding life beyond Earth, and how upcoming students can pursue studying radio astronomy. But what is radio astronomy and why is it so important to study?
“We are at risk of a Wild West scenario due to the rivalries between competing space agencies and commercial interests. … A new International space treaty is urgently needed.”
The first SKA-low antennas are being installed today in Australia!
Here's a feature article I wrote (2021) that outlines the road that has led to the development of the world's largest radio telescope for #SpaceAustralia
Physicist Arno Penzias, who co-discovered the cosmic microwave background, helping to confirm the Big Bang theory of the universe's beginning, died on Monday at age 90.
A pulsar timing array, but instead of actual real pulsars, send out a bunch of precise atomic clocks in all directions of the Solar System and measure their 'ticks' at a central receiving station.
This idea reported in this pre-print aims to assess the 0.1–10 Hz GW band.
An important milestone for #radioastronomy: LOFAR ERIC was founded today, an independent European research organisation that will now manage the world's largest radio telescope #LOFAR. The organisation will e.g. enable large-scale studies of galaxies, pulsars and space weather. https://www.aip.de/news/en/lofar-eric
It's been a few months since I've done some proper science writing for #SpaceAustralia (Phd Lyfe) but thought this new paper drop was interesting to write about!
Australian astronomers have used radio waves to look deep into the heart of the Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae & found an undiscovered radio source.
The newly found radio source could potentially be the first evidence of an intermediate-mass black hole in the core of a Globular Cluster, or a pulsar that is real close to the centre.
A short picture thread from yesterday's expedition to Raisting Earth Station, in freezing fog (-12℃) and being completely alone there. This station (opened in 1963, still one of the largest in the world) enabled satellite comms between Norh America & Europe for the very 1st time and then was also used for transmitting the moon landing and the 1972 Munich Olympics...
The foggy weather and flat light was almost exactly as I'd hoped for (and been patiently waiting & planning for). It absolutely emphasized the artificiality of these structures in the surrounding landscape. Also loved the design, scale and architecture of some of the antennas. A pretty special place & experience - we shall return!
Hallo Mastodon!
Das Max-Planck-Institut für #Radioastronomie ist online und wird euch ab sofort mit spannenden Tröts zur (Radio)Astronomie, den Menschen hinter der #Wissenschaft und vielem mehr versorgen.
Hi Mastodon!
The Max-Planck-Institute for #Radioastronomy is online and will provide you with exciting Toots about (radio)astronomy, the people behind #science and much more.
NOW HIRING: https://www.seti.org/jobs/research-assistant
We are seeking a motivated Research Assistant to join our team at the Allen Telescope Array research facility in Hat Creek California. The ideal candidate will be collaborating with the team members to design and implement GNU-radio-based digital signal processing concepts. This is a temporary position that offers great learning opportunities and hands-on experience in radio astronomy and digital signal processing.