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Arecibo Observatory Detects Mysterious, Energetic Radio Burst
- jpdlla 12y agoPretty cool seeing this here. I recently met someone who works at the observatory here in the island in a Python user group meeting. I was intrigued by the kind of work he did over there with Python. But was instantly bummed out when he told me how their budget has been so dramatically cut during the past few years. There's some interesting things regarding budget, and one of the latest repairs that had to be done after an earthquake north from Puerto Rico damaged one of the suspension cables that support a 900 ton telescope platform here http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2014/0409-arecibo-observatory-earthquake-repairs.html http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2014/0409-arecibo...
- frik 12y agoVery interesting, thanks for sharing! Btw. she put many awesome photos of the observatory on her flickr stream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/ some are categorized in albums: * Flying over Arecibo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157642216845184/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157642216845184/ * Sunday Platform Tour: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157633399446014/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157633399446014/ * Arecibo Observatory: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157631700960474/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157631700960474/ * The Platform After Dark: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157631824663769/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157631824663769/ * Sunset from the Lidar Lab: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157632834643572/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/sets/72157632834643572/ an old Sun Sparc workstation: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/8111297074/in/set-72157631700960474 https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/8111297074/in/set-721576... and https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/13952717471/in/set-72157644190691644 https://www.flickr.com/photos/sondy/13952717471/in/set-72157...
- frik 12y agoI computed a 3D model of the Arecibo Observatory: 3D: http://s15.postimg.org/5czp6yi6j/are_04.jpg http://s15.postimg.org/5czp6yi6j/are_04.jpg point cloud: http://s21.postimg.org/3nvdz80vb/are_03.jpg http://s21.postimg.org/3nvdz80vb/are_03.jpg 3D: http://s15.postimg.org/4lk04gwwb/are_06.jpg http://s15.postimg.org/4lk04gwwb/are_06.jpg point cloud: http://s23.postimg.org/4mrgn0daz/are_05.jpg http://s23.postimg.org/4mrgn0daz/are_05.jpg 3D top: http://s30.postimg.org/6jfoha3fl/are_08.jpg http://s30.postimg.org/6jfoha3fl/are_08.jpg 3D side: http://s30.postimg.org/3n6fm81r5/are_10.jpg http://s30.postimg.org/3n6fm81r5/are_10.jpg (based on Flying over Arecibo photos, see above) a close-up 3D model: http://s2.postimg.org/4rblqbnwp/are_12.jpg http://s2.postimg.org/4rblqbnwp/are_12.jpg related point cloud: http://s2.postimg.org/pqdgt84i1/are_11.jpg http://s2.postimg.org/pqdgt84i1/are_11.jpg ..based on 500 public photos, taken between 2000-2014 by tourists - sadly that means the receiver moved around. So if you can capture hundreds of photos please go and upload the photos on flickr.com
- 3rd3 12y agoI cannot understand why these kind of projects lack funding. Is there no super rich person on this planet who is obsessed with the thought of extraterrestrial life?
- frik 12y agoPaul Allen (Microsoft co-founder) is interested in SETI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Telescope_Array http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Telescope_Array Overall Paul Allen has contributed more than $30 million to the project. He may not know yet that Arecibo Observatory needs help though :/ Triva: he is also looking for a wife http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IM0SvIiMI4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IM0SvIiMI4
- melling 12y agoI cannot understand why people keep turning to the super rich to solve problems. There are 7 billion people on the planet. Isn't it time that the 1 billion of us who appear super rich to the other 6 billion, do little more?
- 3rd3 12y agoI think you misunderstood what I said. I only facetiously pointed out that given these projects lack funding one could conclude that there is no super rich person on this planet which cares about extraterrestrial life (e.g. as a hobby).
- melling 12y agoI was simply trying to point out that "the rest of us" could try and contribute a little more to various goals rather than rely on the super rich. Most readers here are much better off than most other people on the planet. Wouldn't it be great if there was a better way to contribute to "citizen science", for example?
- ZenPro 12y agoWhat else could they do with super-riches? shrug Ultimately, as evidenced by history, most super-rich reach a stage of life where they realise the riches in themselves were just a way to keep score and large philanthropic contributions ensue. It's a serious philosophical question; once [1] family financial security and [2]a high quality of life has been secured there is very little left to spend money on other than initiatives that benefit mankind or the natural world.
- omegaworks 12y ago> As the National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns Arecibo Observatory, cannot legally carry insurance on its facilities, there is no clear source of funding to carry out such a massive repair. This seems so absurd. Why cant NSF facilities be insured?
- lutorm 12y agoAFAIK, doesn't the entire federal government self-insure?
- mturmon 12y agoThe NSF has supported Arecibo for decades now, along with a bunch of other observatories (http://www.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro201/natobs.htm http://www.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro201/nato...). NSF has re-evaluated its commitment to these observatories and decided to pull out of several of them so they can pursue new observing opportunities, such as LSST (sky survey for transients) and ATST (solar telescope). Some scientists are unhappy. The complaints I have heard are that these less-centralized telescopes allowed small investigations to get off the ground, and the new ones are large consortia. For more: http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/08/major-u.s.-telescopes-face-funding-ax http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/08/major-u.s.-telescopes-fac...
- peter_l_downs 12y agoThe LSST is an incredible project. I toured their lab at Brookhaven and one of the lead scientists offhand commented "Yeah, the only problem so far is we're going to have to make something flatter than anyone has ever really made something flat" (referring to the CCD array).
- lifeisstillgood 12y agocool - it just has to Anti-matter weapons taking out planetary hubs with Minds directing the defences ... :-)
- Udo 12y agoThe events are too short and too powerful for even Star Trek-like weapons :) It's clear from the article that the amount of energy required for these bursts would be far in excess of what could be considered practical - even for planet-scope warfare. There is no characteristic gamma pulse which would be expected from an antimatter annihilation, and the pulse length is not exactly what we would expect from this type of weapon either.
- lifeisstillgood 12y agook ok ok - stop with the downvotes, it was a silly joke. But, as Udo kindly did, if we took it seriously, what would a civilisation have to do for us to detect its (warlike) actions and if we did, more importantly, would we believe it?
- steeve 12y agoCall me (and Dr Arroway of course) when it starts generating prime numbers.
- Houshalter 12y agoWould aliens have any interest in prime numbers, like Earth mathematicians do?
- josai 12y agoInteresting question. Reducing it further, is the concept of mathematics, as we understand it, required to develop high technology? I would have thought the answer to be yes.
- electromagnetic 12y agoThat's an interesting question, which simply answered is a plain yes or no. If they use technology as we understand it, then presumably yes. Prime numbers are just a unique artifact of basic arithmetic. Our knowledge of prime numbers appears to date back to at least Ancient Egyptian times, so it's quite safe to assume an alien race capable of something as technologically adept as transmitting a signal with the purposeful intent of contacting another race would know what prime numbers are. The issue is we're limited to our view point, we're exceptionally naive of anything different as we've never experienced it. So, is our technology the only way? We're designing nanotechnology that could fabricate anything we could dream of, but what if an alien race ended up evolving a unique cell that could do it too. We have white blood cells, they have nanofab cells. Would they even comprehend math if they're just growing jet engines and rocket nozzles? It's this latter, our unknowable unknowns that will broadside us. How do we relate to something that's unfathomably alien to us. The good news is you and I likely won't be around to care when we find out what aliens are really like.
- maxerickson 12y agoIf they were directing the design they would be pretty likely to have abstractions. If you are making designs utilizing abstractions you are probably trying to maximize their effectiveness, which sort of naturally leads to at least some math.
- ZenPro 12y agoGreat link. Can someone with a bit more expertise elaborate on this part - > Normally, radio waves travel at the speed of light. This means that all the different wavelengths and frequencies of radio waves emitted by the same object – say, a pulsar – should arrive on Earth in one big batch. As someone not particularly well-schooled in physics; I envisage quite simply that if I turn on a radio then off again then on again - the two transmissions arrive separately at another source. Is that not the same for extra/intergalactic transmissions? If an external transmitter broadcast continual signals would earth not receive them with time delays between each one? HN must have a science grad that can explain why I am mistaken.
- noselasd 12y agoThe text you quote says is that if you turn your radio transmitter on, and broadcast on a lot of different frequencies, and turn your radio off - all the different frequencies arrive simultaneously too(since you transmitted them simultaneously). It will of course arrive some time after you transmit it, since the signal travels at the speed of light. tldr; It's just saying that a low frequency signal travels just as fast as a high frequency signal.
- hythloday 12y agoSure - but if you bounce a radio signal off a wall to the side, then turn it off and on to send a signal straight at an observer, the time difference to the observer is not the same as the one to the transmitter.
- Steuard 12y agoThe phrasing of that section isn't entirely clear, but I think the idea is a little simpler than what you're imagining. What the article means is that if you have a single, very short emission of waves with a combination of multiple frequencies, then in principle an observer ought to observe all of the emitted waves arrive at the same time, regardless of frequency. (Traveling the same distance at the same velocity should mean arrival at the same time, after all.) In this case, though, they see the radio-frequency equivalent of a short blue flash first and later a short green flash and then a short red flash (and presumably all gradations in between, all blurred into one event of gradually decreasing frequency). The notion (as I understand it: not my specialty) is that the longer wavelengths get slowed down a bit more as they pass through galactic and/or intergalactic dust, so their speed is lower. Now, what you're probably wondering is, "Why do they think it's a single short event that's gotten 'smeared out' during travel rather than a longer event that continuously changed wavelengths as it happened at the source?" I don't know the answer for sure, but astronomers have a lot of practice in recognizing these things. One possibility is pulse shape: if the pattern of brightening and dimming of the "blue" light looks exactly the same as the patterns for the "green" and "red" light, it's more likely that it came from a single source event rather than a continuous process.
- coldcode 12y agoShows you that the amount of what we know about the universe is likely less than what we don't. I've always thought that mind boggling discoveries that change our understanding of the universe is the only constant in it.
- frik 12y agoArecibo Observatory was used as a filming location in the climax of the James Bond movie GoldenEye (1995): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory
- nether 12y agoOk
- curiousDog 12y agoNot to mention but also my ATF movie, Contact
- serf 12y agorelated, it also appears all over Sagan's Cosmos.
- chippy 12y agoWe are detecting something from a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
- kator 12y agoThe death star explosion?
- jotm 12y agoI think Alderaan's explosion generated more energy :-)
- JetSpiegel 12y agoNope, Samantha was abducted in Martha's Vineyard.
- shutupalready 12y agoIs this discovery and the Oh-My-God particle related? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh-My-God_particle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh-My-God_particle )
- graycat 12y agoWith the estimate that the distance to the source is 3 billion light years, what would the energy at the source have been? How much energy are we talking? How much red shift are we talking? So, at the source, at what frequencies was most of the energy from? What happened to the other frequencies, lower, higher, or much higher? We do believe that gamma rays can travel 3 billion light years without being absorbed or deflected, right? Let's see a sky map of the estimated locations of the dozen or so signals so far?