December - NAIC

National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center

ARECIBO OBSERVATORY





NEWSLETTER

December 2009, Number 46

Photo: Tony Acevedo, 2008









Photos by Henry Throop.

ably), to near-Earth orbit, and finally to about solar system formation, and the

2009 DPS Meeting in Fajardo the ground. This fascinating story was role of isotopes in shaping our under-

Ellen Howell (NAIC) certainly one of the highlights of the standing. The devil is in the details, as

conference. every scientist is aware, but the angels



M ore than 770 planetary scientists

met in Fajardo October 4–9 for

the 41st annual meeting of the Division

are present, too, in the broad view.

This refreshing look at the big picture

was enjoyed by all.

of Planetary Sciences of the American

Astronomical Society. The meeting Three concurrent scientific sessions ran

took place at the El Conquistador Re- during most of the meeting week, with

sort, in the north east corner of Puerto all aspects of planetary sciences pre-

Rico. The Arecibo Observatory hosted sented, including extra-solar planets

this meeting, and organized the events and their formation. Dynamics, compo-

together with the AAS staff. The sci- sition, atmospheres, surface geology,

ence presented began with the latest satellites, and spacecraft images from

results of Moon mapping missions,

with the exciting discovery of defini-

CONTENTS

tive detection of water on the Moon.

2009 DPS Conference ................ 1

Not just in a few special locations, but

From the NAIC Director ............. 2

everywhere across the surface. The hy- Fig. 1: Dr. Peter Jenniskens (SETI Inst.) with frag-

ments of asteroid 2008 TC3. Photo by Henry Students Participate in DPS ....... 3

drated spectral signatures are seen in

Throop. IYA Public Astronomy Talks ...... 5

the Moon Mineralogy Mapper aboard

A Peculiar H I Cloud ......................5

the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft (Pieters, The DPS awarded the Urey Prize for Binary NEA 2004 DC....................6

et al., 2009), and confirmed by two oth- most promising young scientist to Mesospheric Semidiurnal

er spacecraft which recently collected Dr. Sarah Stewart-Mukhopadhyay, an Temperature Tides ..................7

lunar flyby data. assistant professor at Harvard Universi- Neutral Calcium & Its Ions ..........7

ty. Sarah’s PhD advisor, Dr. Tom Ahrens, AGES Survey ...................................9

A special session was devoted to the attended the prize talk, and added I-GALFA: First Image Mosaic ...10

asteroid 2008 TC3, which entered the a few heartfelt remarks. Sarah’s talk, Monitoring a Water Maser ..... 10

Earth’s atmosphere over the Sudan “Impacts onto Icy Bodies: A Journey A Missing Link ............................ 11

only 19 hours after discovery. Frag- from the Labatory to the Outer Solar Planets Around Pulsar ............. 12

ments were later recovered in the Su- System” covered an impressive range ALFALFA Workshop ..................13

danese desert by Dr. Peter Jenniskens of the applications of her work on the Single-Dish Summer School ....15

(SETI Institute) (Fig. 1) and colleagues behavior of ice during impacts, and our HF Facility .....................................16

at the University of Khartoum. The me- changing view of the surfaces of com- Summer Student Program ....... 17

teorite is an unusual type of ureilite, ets, KBOs, and outer planet satellites. Comings & Goings ..................... 21

which raises many questions about the

Employment Opportunities .... 23

origin of this asteroid fragment and its The Kuiper Prize was awarded to Dr. Notes to Observers .................... 24

journey from the asteroid belt (presum- Toby Owen (U. Hawaii) who talked



The NAIC is operated by Cornell University under a Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation.

From the NAIC Director



To roughly paraphrase Charles Dickens, for NAIC this is “the best of times and the most difficult of times”. The

“Gregorian” upgrading of the optics of the 305-m telescope, resetting of its primary reflector surface to 2-mm accu-

racy, dual-beaming of the incoherent scatter radar for atmospheric research, the 1-MW S-band transmitter for solar

system studies, the 7-element Arecibo L-Band Feed Array (ALFA), and the new wideband “Mock” spectrometers

have all come together to make Arecibo a very modern, very well-instrumented telescope. Arecibo is arguably the

world’s most sensitive and versatile radio observatory for research in astronomy, solar system studies and atmo-

spheric sciences. The Observatory’s astronomical research programs are stronger and more productive than at any

time in its history driven by the large surveys centered, primarily, on the ALFA system. As stated in the recent interim

report of the National Research Council’s Near-Earth Object Survey Committee, the Observatory’s planetary radar

“is a uniquely powerful instrument for the characterization and orbital refinement of NEOs”. The Observatory’s in-

coherent scatter radar combined with its extensive suite of optical LIDAR and airglow instrumentation also provide

a unique capability for studies of the Earth’s upper atmosphere.



Spurred by $3.1M in “stimulus” (ARRA) funding received through the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences and

$3M in infrastructure funding from the government of Puerto Rico for both of which we are very grateful, NAIC is

embarking on a number of instrumentation initiatives plus a general upgrading of the Observatory’s infrastructure.

Plans are well advanced for the purchase and installation of a 12-m antenna for use, primarily, as a phase reference

antenna for VLBI observations. New klystrons are being purchased for the S-band planetary transmitter. New gen-

erators to provide primary power for the S-band transmitter and the new Ionospheric Interaction (HF) facility will

soon be ordered to replace the current unreliable and non-emissions compliant 3-MW turbine generator. Contracts

have been let for a feasibility study for a ~40-beam focal phased array feed at L-band as a follow-on to the ALFA

system. Wider band receivers will replace four of the current receiver systems, the bandwidth of the IF system will

be increased to 2 GHz, later 4 GHz, and new VLBI digital backend and recording systems are being ordered. The

Observatory site is over 40 years old so many of the infrastructure projects are aimed at improving energy efficiency,

upgrading safety, resolving some environmental issues such as disused buried tanks, finishing the painting of the

telescope and painting its cable system and support towers.



As Mike Sulzer describes in his article in this newsletter, construction of the new HF facility is making good progress

with the new transmitter building being outfitted, the transmitters in place if not yet turned on, the electromagnetic

design of the feeds and sub-reflector completed and the structural designs close to being ready to go out for bids.

“First light” for the HF facility is expected to be in the fall of 2010, and the ionospheric interaction research commu-

nity is eagerly awaiting the renewed capability at the Observatory to support their research.



All of these projects are being carried out against the backdrop of considerable uncertainty about NAIC’s and the

Arecibo Observatory’s future funding level, most of which is provided by the NSF Division of Astronomical Sci-

ences. The NSF Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences currently provides funding for the Observatory’s

space and atmospheric sciences research programs plus some administrative support costs. The November, 2006

NSF Senior Review report recommended a progressive reduction in NAIC’s budget from NSF Astronomy through

2010 followed by a very significant further reduction starting in 2011. The initial approximately 20% reduction

between 2008 and 2010 has taken place resulting in a significant loss of personnel and the NSF November, 2008

‘Dear Colleague’ letter states that there will be a further reduction although its level is still uncertain. The Division of

Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences has indicated that they expect to increase the level of their support. To add to

the uncertainty, the NSF announced in the November, 2008 letter that it will compete the next Cooperative Agree-

ment for the management of NAIC, the current one ends in 2010. A Request for Proposals for the competition is

still pending.



Despite the uncertainties, NAIC’s staff has responded magnificently to the challenge of operating the Observatory

with significantly fewer people, assisting our users and supporting the many new initiatives. They very much de-

serve the thanks of our research community for their efforts and dedication.



Best wishes for the holidays!



Don Campbell







December 2009, Number 46 2 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Fig. 4: Groups travel

up and down the

catwalk all day to

tour the platform.

Over 150 visitors

made the journey

before the rain at

about 3pm ended

the tours. More

than 250 people

toured the site

including around

and under the main

reflector, and also

inside the Visitor

Fig. 2: Chair of the DPS for the next year, Candy Center. Photo by

Hansen (NASA/JPL). Photo by Henry Throop. Robert Minchin.



Mercury to the Kuiper Belt and Oort

Cloud comets were presented, dis-

cussed and debated, sometimes with

vigor. Altogether, 662 presentations,

408 oral, and 254 posters occurred

during this busy week. The Chair of the

DPS for the next year, Candy Hansen

(NASA/JPL), took over from Jonathan Fig. 5: Visitors de-

Lunine (U. Arizona) Monday night at scend into the dome

the business meeting (Fig. 2). to see the planetary

radar transmitter

room and the re-

On Friday morning at 7:30 am local ceiver room. Photo

time, the LCROSS spacecraft (Lunar by Robert Minchin.

CRater Observation and Sensing Satel-

lite) impacted the lunar surface (inten-

tionally). The live NASA feed was pro-

jected onto the big screen in one of the

meeting rooms, thanks to sponsors at

Northrup-Grumman, and many confer-

ence attendees were up early to More photos of the DPS visit to AO

witness this event. At impact, the taken by staff member Robert Minchin

cameras winked out, but there are available at http://www.naic.

was excitement at the control cen- edu/~minchin/DPS.

ter that a thermal signature was

seen. Later reports confirmed that

water was detected in the ejecta

Students Participate in the

from the impact site near the lunar

Division of Planetary Sciences

south pole.

41st Annual Conference

Carmen Pantoja & Mayra Lebrón (UPR

Following the meeting, over 250

Rio Piedras)

participants boarded buses to tour

the Arecibo Observatory. It was a

lovely day, despite predictions of

rain, and over 150 people climbed

T he Division of Planetary Sciences

(DPS) of the American Astronomi-

cal Society had its 41st annual meeting

to the platform (Fig. 3 & 4), and in Puerto Rico. Hundreds of planetary

toured the Gregorian dome scientists visited the island to discuss

(Fig. 5). All visitors walked around the latest discoveries in their research

under the main reflector, and fields. A large-scale public outreach

toured the control room as well event was coordinated by the IYA2009-

as the Visitor Center. It was an ex- Puerto Rico node and the DPS meet-

Fig. 3: Small groups of DPS visitors make their way from ceptional experience for all con- ing organizers on October 5th and 7th.

the platform down to the rotary joint. Staff members

stationed along the waveguide the visitors and answer cerned and a satisfying end to a More than 860 students and teach-

questions. Photo by Robert Minchin. productive and enjoyable week. ers from 27 schools (high school and



December 2009, Number 46 3 NAIC/AO Newsletter

middle school levels) participated in as volunteers at the booth. The school talked with Dr. Peter Jenniskens (SETI

the event called “Future Scientists”. students received diverse educational Institute) about asteroid 2008 TC3.

A guided tour exposed students to a materials which included a special lith- Dr. Jenniskens showed the students a

professional conference and the way ograph of “Scientists” with information meteorite sample recovered from Su-

in which scientists communicate their about careers in science, and assorted dan and which was the subject of a

discoveries and research. They re- NASA lithographs and information special topical session during this meet-

ceived the latest information regard- from other organizations. Students had ing (Fig. 7). In addition to these two

ing the exciting LCROSS mission. The the opportunity to talk to scientists and days at the Conference, the IYA2009-

Moon impact was scheduled for Octo- outreach specialists about astronomy, Puerto Rico node and the DPS organiz-

ber 9th. The tour was guided by Prof. research, and science careers. The or- ers with the support of the O.P. and

Dolores Balzac (UPR), Dr. Carmen Pan- ganizers are grateful to the scientists W.E. Edwards Foundation and Arecibo

toja (UPR), Dr. Mayra Lebrón (UPR) and that were attending the DPS confer- Observatory (NAIC) coordinated public

included a visit to the poster section ence who offered astronomy talks to talks at different schools:

(Fig. 6), the exhibit area at the confer- the students: Dr. Pedro Valdés-Sada

 Dr. Orlando Figueroa (NASA/God-

ence, and an orientation about science (Universidad de Monterrey, México),

dard):

Dr. Karen Meech

1) University of Puerto Rico, May-

(University of Hawaii,

agüez Campus

USA), Dr. Amy Lovell

2) Escuela Superior Inés María Men-

(Agnes Scott College,

doza, Cabo Rojo

GA), Dr. Orlando

3) Universidad Politécnica - (el-

Figueroa (NASA/

ementary, middle and high

Goddard, USA), Prof.

school) affiliated to the Puerto

Abel Méndez (UPR,

Rico Institute of Robotics partici-

Puerto Rico), Dr. Sil-

pated in this conference

via Giuliatti Winter

(UNESP, Brazil) and

 Prof. Alberto Quijano-Vodniza

also to all scientists

(Nariño Observatory, Colombia):

that interacted with

1) Escuela Especializada en Cien-

the students in the

cias, Matemáticas y Tecnología,

poster area. The stu-

Fig. 6: Dr. Carmen Pantoja and IYA2009-PR SPoC received the visiting Caguas

dents were able to

students at the LCROSS poster. Photo by Henry Throop.  Cristina Thomas (NAU) and Franc-

ask questions about

esca DeMeo (Paris Observatory)

careers. During their visit to the exhibit different topics in astronomy and

1) Escuela Elemental Adalberto

area the students had the opportunity about science careers. Members of the

Sánchez, Arroyo

to interact with EPO representatives of amateur astronomy society “Sociedad

2) Escuela Superior Urbana, Patillas

NASA Ames Research Center, NASA de Astronomía del Caribe” (Eddie Ir-

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Exo- rizary, Agustín Rivera (Sr.), and Agustín

 Dr. Stephen Squyres (Cornell Uni-

planet Science Institute, James Webb J. Rivera) worked as volunteers dur-

versity):

Space Telescope, NASA Planetary Data ing this event. The students enjoyed

1) Universidad Interamericana

System, Space Telescope Science Insti- a meteorite display by amateur col-

Recinto Metro, San Juan

tute, Spitzer Science Center, Hubble lector Raymond Borges (Universidad

Space Telescope Science Institute, The del Turabo, student volunteer) and

 Dr. David Rabinowitz (Yale Univ.)

Boeing Company,

1) Escuela Germán Rieckehoff,

USRA/SOFIA, NAIC/

Vieques

Arecibo Observatory

2) Escuela 20 de septiembre de

and IYA2009-PR. The

1988, Vieques Talks in Vieques

IYA2009-PR booth

were coordinated by the “Socie-

was sponsored by

dad de Astronomía de Puerto

Arecibo Observatory

Rico, Capitulo de Vieques”.

(NAIC) and displayed

the “Galileoscope”

These activities served to fulfill the

among other cor-

IYA2009 goals of sharing fundamental

nerstone and local

knowledge of the Universe with the

projects. Prof. Gloria

general public, establishing networks

Isidro (UPR), Daniel

between professional and amateur as-

Montaño (UPR stu-

tronomers and providing basic astron-

dent volunteer), and

Fig. 7: Dr. Peter Jenniskens (SETI) gives a quick talk to a school group omy to teachers and pupils.

Wanda Vázquez touring the poster session. Prof. Dolores Balzac, Director of the Planetari-

(UPR student) served um at the UPR-M guided the students through the exhibits hall. Photo

by Henry Throop.



December 2009, Number 46 4 NAIC/AO Newsletter

us and ask more questions. While pre- as it passes through the dense ISM of

IYA Public Astronomy Talks in paring and giving these presentations the Galactic Disc. Thus, ICM would only

Spanish had been a challenge for Cristina and build up over half an orbital period,

Francesca DeMeo (Observatoire de I since we are not native speakers and typically 100 Myr. Still, hundreds of so-

Paris) it was our first scientific presentation in lar masses of ICM would be expected

Spanish, it was certainly worth the ef- in the more massive clusters, and this

A fter the DPS conference Cristina

Thomas and I traveled to the south

of Puerto Rico to talk to elementary

fort and was just as rewarding if not

more for me as it was for the students

is not seen. Additional removal mecha-

nisms have been suggested. Among

we spoke to. these, ram-pressure stripping as the

school students in Aroyo (Fig. 8) one cluster speeds through the hot Galactic

morning and to high school students Halo is an interesting one, as it would

in Patillas that afternoon. Our presenta- turn globular clusters into sought-after

tion consisted of a brief description of A Peculiar HI Cloud Near the

probes of the Galactic Halo.

the solar system and all the objects in Distant Globular Cluster Pal 4

it. We then talked about a few space Jacco van Loon (Keele Univ., UK), Sne- In analysing Arecibo 21-cm observa-

missions, focusing on Mars and Saturn zana Stanimirovic (Univ. of Wisconsin- tions of four Galactic globular clusters,

and its moons. We ended with a de- Madison), Mary Putman (Columbia as part of the on-going GALFA-H I Sur-

scription of the largest telescopes and Univ.), Josh Peek (UC Berkeley), Steven vey, we discovered a peculiar H I cloud

observatories of the world, of course Gibson (Univ. of Western Kentucky), in the vicinity of Pal 4, one of the most

emphasizing the importance of Are- Kevin Douglas (Univ. of Exeter, UK), distant clusters in our Galaxy at 109 kpc

cibo on their own island. The elemen- Eric Korpela (UC Berkeley) --- that is twice the distance to the Mag-

tary school children were riveted with (This article condensed from van Loon ellanic Clouds! This high velocity cloud

attention. There were at least 100 of et al., MNRAS 2009 396, 1096.) (Fig. 9) has a distinct bowshock appear-

them, as many as they could fit into



G lobular clusters are often thought ance, and a velocity gradient suggest-

their library. The kids in the back would ing rotation or tumbling motion. From

stand up after the change of almost of as purely stellar systems, where

not much exciting happens. But they the hydrogen column density alone a

every slide to get a better view of the mass of ~105 M is inferred if the HVC

presentation. They were shy with ques- contain many evolved red giant stars,

which lose ~40% of their birth mass is indeed at a distance of ~109 kpc.

tions, but once one person asked a Despite its modest current stellar mass,

question, they each had one of their before they leave a white dwarf rem-

nant behind. Thus, over time, many Pal 4 will certainly have had much lon-

own they wanted answered. While the ger to accumulate mass than clusters

high school students were the tougher thousands of solar masses of gas would

have been returned to intra-cluster closer to the Milky Way. Pal 4 may not

crowd, they surprised me with their in- even be crossing the Disc at all. As an

terest as well with their unending ques- space. However, attempts to detect this

intra-cluster medium (ICM) have been exotic alternative, the HVC and Pal 4

tions. How soon do we discover aster- could be situated within a 108 M dark

oids before they might hit the Earth? generally disappointing, and dynami-

cal mass estimates of globular clusters halo.

Are we sending humans to Pluto? Do

we use general relativity in astronomy? also do not leave room for all mass

lost by red giants to be retained within In order to establish or refute an as-

If I want to study chemical engineering sociation of the HVC with Pal 4, we

can I still be somehow involved in as- the cluster. One removal mechanism

which has been suggested and is cer- employed various methods that have

tronomy? Even after the presentation appeared in recent literature to deter-

ended kids came over to talk more with tain to work, is cleansing of the cluster









Fig. 8: Francesca DeMeo (right center) and Cristina Thomas (left center) with a teacher at Adalberto Sánchez Elementary School in Aroyo.





December 2009, Number 46 5 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Fig. 9: H I emission from a high velocity cloud discovered near the distant globular cluster Pal 4. Shown from left to right are a brightness tempera-

ture map, a map of the apparent gas kinetic temperature derived from the velocity dispersion, and a map of the velocity centroid of emission.



mine the distance to the cloud, but it primary in 23.2 hours, on an eccentric

emerged that none of these methods Binary Near-Earth Asteroid orbit (e ~ 0.24) with a semimajor axis

in actual fact place any meaningful 2004 DC of 0.74 km. The best-fit mutual orbit

constraints on the distance at all. We Patrick Taylor (NAIC) normal coincides with the best-fit spin

thus had to reside with the conclusion pole direction of the primary, deter-

that an association of the H I cloud and

Pal 4 is possible, but that a chance co- A recibo S-band radar observa-

tions on June 2, 2006 revealed

that near-Earth asteroid 2004 DC is a

mined from the radar echo bandwidth

evolution over the course of the obser-

incidence between Pal 4 and a nearby vations, implying an equatorial mutual

compact HVC cannot be ruled out al- binary system. Further observations orbit. The primary component rotates

together. on June 3–4, plus Goldstone observa- once every 2.57 hours, nearly at the

tions through June 6 covering more break-up rate for a rubble pile body,

New, more stringent upper limits than 90 degrees of sky motion pro- and accounts for 96% of the system’s

than before were derived for the ICM vided the necessary geometric lever- angular momentum, which is consis-

mass in the other three clusters, M 3, age to determine the mutual orbit of tent with a binary system produced

NGC 5466, and Pal 13. Here we note the two components and spin state of through rotational fission or mass shed-

that the previous most stringent up- the primary component as well as cre- ding. The spin state of the secondary is

per limits had also been obtained at ate a shape model of the primary com- less clear, and the only way to reconcile

Arecibo, some as long ago as 25 years. ponent (Fig. 10). The roughly 70-m the bandwidth with the range-depth

Besides being lower, these limits are secondary orbits the roughly 350-m of the secondary’s echo in the radar im-

also much more reliable as ALFA pro-

duces images of the surrounding sky.

Our measurements thus add to the

growing perception that interaction

with Halo gas must be efficient in re-

moving gas from globular clusters. It

would also explain the morphological

and kinematic properties of the HVC

should it be associated with Pal 4.



This is an on-going programme at Are-

cibo, with more clusters being covered

by recently obtained and expected

new GALFA-H I data. The programme

was initiated a few years ago at Are-

cibo (but without the L-band array), Fig. 10: Left: Arecibo radar image of 2004 DC showing that it is a binary system. Range increases

downward with a resolution of 7.5 m per pixel. Frequency (Doppler shift due to rotation) increases

which led to the detection of H I in the

to the right with 0.05-Hz resolution. The primary is about 350 m in diameter, while the secondary

very metal-poor globular cluster M 15 is about 70 m in diameter. Right: Preliminary shape model of the 2004 DC primary. The equatorial

(van Loon, Stanimirovic, Evans & Mull- belt, sloped sides, and flattened poles are similar to those seen on the 1999 KW4 primary and sug-

er, 2006, MNRAS, 365, 1277). gestive of binary formation via spin-up and mass shedding.



December 2009, Number 46 6 NAIC/AO Newsletter

ages is for the secondary to be unsyn-

chronized (its rotation period does not (a) January 12-h phase (b) August 12-h phase

105 105

equal the mutual orbit period), mean-

ing the secondary has not reached a 100 100

tidal end state like that of Earth’s Moon.









Altitude (km)









Altitude (km)

A preliminary shape model of the pri- 95 95

mary component based upon the

7.5-m resolution Arecibo radar images 90 90

is approximately oblate and reminis-

cent of the 1999 KW4 primary, includ- 85 85

ing a pronounced circular equatorial

belt 350 m in diameter and polar flat- 80 80

tening (the pole-to-pole diameter is -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6

335 m). Near-Earth binary asteroid Local Solar Time Local Solar Time

2004 DC shows all of the hallmarks of a

binary formed through the spin-up of a Arecibo lidar Maui lidar SABER Arecibo SABER Maui

rubblized parent body: the rapid rota-

Fig. 11: Phase versus altitude for the mean thermal semidiurnal tide as measured by lidars (red-solid

tion near the rubble pile breakup limit, line is Arecibo, blue-dashed is Maui) and SABER (red diamond–Arecibo, blue triangle–Maui). Panel

the circular belt of material around the (a) shows those for January and panel (b) is for August.

midsection of the primary, the perfect result was the strength of local effects likely to maintain coherence over the

amount of angular momentum corre- at the individual sites. These are mani- period of a month, much less from

sponding to a parent body able to lose fest in Figure 11, which shows the year-to-year, one would expect them

material due to its rapid spin, and the phase (time of maximum value) results to cancel one another out. Seasonally-

equatorial orbit of the secondary. This of the semidiurnal tides for Arecibo and variable long-wave forcing is possibly

litany of properties leads one to believe Maui. These can be profoundly differ- involved, such as might be caused by

that 2004 DC, along with 1999 KW4, ent from one another, as well as from jet stream-induced oscillations.

are the prototypical near-Earth binary the regional means, as provided by

asteroids. SABER. The full study was published in the Jour-

nal of Geophysical Research–Atmo-

Figure 11, Panel (a), for the month of spheres in July [Friedman, Zhang, Chu,

Arecibo and the Longitudinal January, shows dramatically different and Forbes (2009), J. Geophys. Res., 114,

Study of Mesospheric Semidi- phase structures between the two D11114, 10.1029/2009JD011763].

sites. This implies that local, rather than

urnal Temperature Tides

global (or migrating), 12-hour oscilla-

Jonathan Friedman (NAIC)

tions dominate the thermal variation

Simultaneous Observations of

I n a study that combines 6 years of

data from two ground-based Dop-

pler-resonance lidars in collaboration

for this mid-winter month. In contrast,

Panel (b) of shows the phase structure

for the month of August. In this case,

Neutral Calcium and its ions

from Arecibo

with space-based observations from there is very close agreement between Shikha Raizada, Craig Tepley & Jona-

the TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere the phases at Arecibo and Maui, and than Friedman (NAIC), Biff Williams &

Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) these are in good agreement with the Diego Janches (CoRA/NWRA)

satellite, Jonathan Friedman (NAIC), regional measurements of SABER. The

Xiaoli Zhang, Xinzhao Chu and Jeffrey

Forbes (all CU-Boulder) collaborated to

elucidate many of the characteristics of

implication is that global (migrating)

effects are more prominent during W e report the first simultaneous

measurements of the meso-

spheric neutral calcium and its ions

August, while local (non-migrating) ef-

the thermal semidiurnal tide in the me- fects are more prominent in January. from a tropical site. The motivation for

sopause region (83–102 km) at a tropi- this work arises from the fact that neu-

cal latitude (~20°N). In addition to Are- As to why local effects are more promi- tral calcium is hugely depleted from

cibo lidar and TIMED-SABER (Sounding nent in winter than in summer, that is the mesosphere as compared to other

of the Atmosphere using Broadband an open question. Locally-generated metals that are deposited through me-

Emission Radiometry) observations, convection is certainly more prevalent teoric input. The other important char-

the Maui-MALT campaign-deployed in summer, which implies stronger grav- acteristic of this species is that the ratio

University of Illinois Na resonance lidar ity-wave generation that might upset of its ionized to neutral state in atom-

participated in this study. the coherent structure expected from ic form is relatively high ~ 2.4 (Na+/

migrating tides, but this is not what we Na ~ 0.1 and Fe+/Fe ~ 0.2). In order

The results of this study show that there observe. Those waves may be filtered to understand the properties of meso-

is a strong seasonal dependence of the by winds in the stratosphere and lower spheric Ca, we developed a resonance

tidal amplitude and phase, which was mesosphere and never reach the me- lidar to enable the simultaneous obser-

expected. However, a not-so-expected sopause region. Also, as they are not vations of this metal along with its ion.



December 2009, Number 46 7 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Receiver Characteristics Transmitter Characteristics

Telescope Type Cassegrain Type Nd:YAG Dye IR mixing

Aperture 80 cm Wavelength 1064; 532 (nm) 624; 701 (nm) 393; 423 (nm)

FOV 0.6 mrad Rep. Rate 50 Hz 50 Hz 50 Hz

PMT QE 20% Avg. Power 30 W @532 4W 1W

Filter Transmission 90% Pulse width 8 nsec 6 nsec 6 nsec

Linewidth 100 MHz 1.5–2.5 GHz 1.5–2.5 GHz

Electron densities were obtained using

the incoherent scatter radar. We em- event is seen in the ion occurring Figure 13 shows Ca+ (top) and Ca

ployed two identical transmitters and a around 100 km in a thin layer modulat- (below) obtained on the night of 17

receiver with characteristics as shown ed by waves and broadening to about October 2009. The ion displays multi-

in the tables above. 2 km later during the early morn- layers extending from 90 km up to

ing period. During this time, (~3:00 about 105 km, while the neutral ex-

We made successful simultaneous AM), an enhancement in the neu- hibits a strong sporadic layer around

measurements of each species in June, tral Ca is observed where the den- 90 km that gets stronger after midnight

2009. Prior to this, we had made ob- sities exceed 100 atoms/cm3. Dur- when the ion layer starts to diminish in

servations of either the neutral or the ing the rest of the night, the main strength at that altitude. There is no

ionized calcium (Ca or Ca+). An exam- layer of neutral calcium is less than neutral layer above 100 km that cor-

ple showing the temporal and spatial 5 atoms/cm3, which is below the detec- relates with the ion layer. A detailed

distribution of the neutral Ca and its tion threshold for about two minutes of analysis to understand the seasonal

ions on two different nights is shown integration time per profile. and latitudinal variation is currently in

in Figure 12 & 13. A strong sporadic progress.

21 June 2009 17 Oct 2009







110 110

Altitude(km)

Altitude(km)









100 100







90

90







22:02 23:05 00:09 01:13 02:16

22:58 00:32 02:05 03:39 05:13 Time[AST]

Time[AST]

Ca Ion Concentration (cm-3)

Ca Ion Concentration (cm-3)

10.00 88.00 166.00 244.00 322.00 400.00

10.00 88.00 166.00 244.00 322.00 400.00

17 Oct 2009

21 June 2009



110

Altitude(km)









110

100

Altitude(km)









100 90







22:01 23:03 00:04 01:06 02:08

90 Time[AST]

Atoms (/cc)



0 17 35 52 70



Fig. 13: Ca+ (top) and Ca (below) obtained on the night of 17 Octo-

22:30 00:06 01:43 03:19 04:55 ber 2009.

Time[AST]



Ca Concentration (cm-3)



1.00 26.00 51.00 76.00 101.00 126.00

Fig. 12: The temporal and spatial distribution of the neutral Ca

and its ions. The top panel shows the Ca ion distribution while the

lower one gives the neutral layer on the night of 21 June 2009.



December 2009, Number 46 8 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Early Type Galaxies in the

AGES Survey

Rhys Taylor & Jonathan Davies (Cardiff

Univ.) and the AGES team





T he Arecibo Galaxy Environments Sur-

vey (AGES) is a project that uses the

21-cm multi-beam instrument ALFA to

survey nearby galactic environments

and the volumes behind them. The goal

of the survey is to reach lower noise

levels than ALFALFA and therefore to

detect lower mass and lower column

density H I objects. We drift scan across Fig. 14: Left - the AGES spectrum. Right - The late-type galaxy VCC 534 is to the south but is ruled

out as the optical counterpart by its optical redshift from the SDSS. The galaxy to the north is the

the sky with the goal of completing 25 lenticular galaxy VCC571 whose optical redshift agrees with the H I value.

scans across each point (ALFALFA does

two scans). This is equivalent to a 300s MHI/Lg of 0.04. cal redshift, but it is our best bet opti-

integration. The proposed total AGES cal counterpart to the H I detection.

sky coverage is 200 sq deg of which we Another case is VCC190, it is classified VCC190 has an H I mass of 9x107 M

have now completed about 21% and as a dwarf elliptical galaxy and because and MHI/Lg = 0.6 it is very gas rich

so we are now in a position to describe of its low surface brightness it is barely compared to other dE galaxies.

some of our first results. visible in SDSS (Fig. 15). It has no opti-

Looking at the colour magnitude

diagram (Fig. 16) it is clear that these

seven early type galaxies all sit on the

cluster red sequence, though the len-

ticulars (green squares) lie just where

the red sequence starts to overlap with

the blue ‘cloud’ of late type galaxies

– they may be described as transition

objects, though they have the opti-

cal morphology of early type galaxies.

The lenticulars are amongst the most

gas-poor objects detected by AGES

(Fig. 17), and are perhaps the result

of morphological evolution from later-

type spirals. In contrast, the dwarf el-

Fig. 15: Left – the AGES spectrum. Right – SDSS image centred on the position of the H I detection,

VCC 190 is highlighted with the arrow. lipticals have red sequence colours

(Fig. 17). A key question is why has

With an H I sensitivity of about their star formation stopped when they

7x106 M at the distance of the Virgo

cluster the survey has the potential to

detect some very low H I mass objects.

In this article we focus on early type

galaxies, which one does not normally

expect to detect in H I surveys. In the

10 sq degs completely scanned in the

Virgo Cluster region we detect seven

objects in H I that we assign to optically

identified lenticular and dwarf elliptical

galaxies (Note that in total 25% of our

detections in this well studied region

are new). Although optical identifica-

tion is difficult, it does become a little Fig. 16: The SDSS (g-i) against Mg colour magni-

Fig. 17: The H I mass (MH I) to luminosity ratio

easier when there is an optical redshift tude diagram for all VCC galaxies in the AGES

(Lg) as a function of galaxy type for all VCC

(Fig. 14). Detected at 21 cm for the Virgo field. Blue are late type galaxies (T>2), red

galaxies detected in H I in the AGES Virgo field.

are early types not detected in H I (T<2). The

first time the lenticular galaxy VCC571 The late type galaxies are marked in blue, the

detected lenticulars are marked in green and

has an H I mass of 2.4x107 M and a lenticulars in green and the dwarf ellipticals in

the deteced dE galaxies in black.

red.



December 2009, Number 46 9 NAIC/AO Newsletter

have gas fractions typical of very late- region. It also emphasizes the excellent suggests that the emission is associated

type galaxies (Fig. 17) ? fidelity of the Arecibo H I data over with the active galactic nucleus (AGN)

nearly 3 orders of magnitude in surface of the quasar. While VLBI observations

Deep 21-cm observations of the Virgo brightness. Most higher-latitude gas can establish the exact position of the

cluster allow us to detect galaxies of in Figure 18 is probably about 3 kpc maser, single-dish monitoring is es-

low H I mass. These are not exclusively away, at which distance a latitude of sential in revealing its true nature (i.e.,

low luminosity dwarf galaxies, but they +/- 10 degrees implies a ~500 pc dis- whether emission is arising from the

are also large galaxies that are normal- placement from the Galactic plane circumnuclear accretion disk, “disk-ma-

ly expected to be devoid of detectable ser”, or is instead associated with the in-

atomic gas. Studying in more detail ner part of the relativistic radio jet(s) de-

these transition type galaxies will help tected in the quasar, “jet-maser”). Given

us understand the processes that regu- Monitoring a Water Maser in the extreme weakness of the line (the

late the gas fraction in galaxies, particu- the Early Universe peak is only few mJy, see Fig. 19), only

larly those processes that depend on Paola Castangia, John McKean, Alan Arecibo, being the most sensitive radio-

the galactic environment. Roy, Christian Henkel & Andreas Brun- telescope, could perform a successful

thaler & Violette Impellizzeri (MPIfR), monitoring campaign.

and Olaf Wucknitz (Argelander Inst.)

Here we present the sequence of spec-



T

First Image Mosaic of I-GALFA he water maser line from the tra for the first 6 epochs of the monitor-

Survey Complete gravitationally lensed quasar MG ing. The main maser line (at a relative

Steven Gibson (Western Kentucky U.) J0414+0534 was monitored with Are- velocity of about –280km/s) is clearly

and I-GALFA Team cibo between October 2008 and Sep- detected in all epochs. The line has a

tember 2009, at ~6-week intervals, for

A recibo H I emission over the area of

the newly-completed Inner Galaxy

ALFA (I-GALFA) survey. The radial ve-

a total of 9 epochs. At redshift 2.64, MG

J0414+0534 is by far the most distant

peak flux density of about 3 mJy and

it shows a surprising stability through-

out the period of the observations. Fur-

locity shown selects near the Sagittarius object to show water maser emission thermore, no velocity drift of the main

spiral arm tangent in the inner Galaxy. (Impellizzeri et al. 2008). Its H2O (un- line peak has been detected so far. The

The logarithmic intensity scale allows lensed) apparent isotropic luminosity great sensitivity of Arecibo allowed us

halo clouds, chimneys, and worms to of ~10,000 L places the maser in MG also to discover a weak satellite line in

be viewed simultaneously over a large J0414+0534 among the most lumi- the October 2008 spectrum at a veloc-

nous water masers ever detected and









Fig. 18: First image mosaic of I-GALFA Survey.



December 2009, Number 46 10 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Fig. 19: Water maser spectra observed

towards MG J0414+0534 between

October 2008 and May 2009. We A Millisecond Pulsar/X-ray

observed for 3.5 hrs (total observing Binary Missing Link

time) in each epoch (except in Febru- Anne Archibald (McGill Univ.), Ingrid

ary where we observed for 10.5 hrs)

in double-position-switching mode

Stairs (U. British Columbia), Scott

with a 100-MHz bandwidth and 2048 Ransom (NRAO), Victoria Kaspi (McGill

spectral channels. The spectra shown U.), Vladislav Kondratiev, Duncan

here have been smoothed down to a Lorimer, Maura McLaughlin & Jason

resolution of 9.6 km/s. The blue and

green vertical lines indicate the peak

Boyles (W. Virginia U.), Jason Hessels

velocities of the main and satellite & Joeri van Leeuwen (U. Amsterdam),

maser features, respectively, as mea- Ryan Lynch (U. Virginia), Mallory

sured in the October 2008 spectrum. Roberts (Eureka Scientific), Rick Jenet

The velocity scale is relative to redshift

2.639 (corresponding to 791152 km/s)

(UT Brownsville), David Champion

using the optical velocity definition in (ATNF), Rachel Rosen (NRAO),

the heliocentric frame. Brad Barlow & Bart Dunlap (U. No.

ity of about +470km/s. A hint Carolina), and Ronald Remillard (MIT)

of this line is also visible in the

January and May 2009 spectra,

indicating variability for this fea- M illisecond pulsars are neutron

stars rotating hundreds of times

per second, much faster than newly-

ture. The presence of satellite

lines and velocity drifts in the born pulsars. The standard model for

maser spectrum is important their origin describes them as old pul-

since it provides indication for a sars that have been “recycled” by ac-

disk-maser and can be used to cretion of matter from a companion.

estimate the mass of the super- Indeed, millisecond X-ray pulsations

massive black hole and the ac- have been detected in some accreting

cretion disk radius. This would systems. Yet the transition from these

be the first time that such in- accreting, X-ray-emitting systems to the

formation can be derived for a non-accreting radio-emitting millisec-

quasar at redshift 2.64. Assum- ond pulsars that we observe remains

ing that in MG J0414+0534 mysterious, largely because no object

we are dealing with a disk- had been observed in transition be-

maser, because of the large tween the states (Fig. 20).

uncertainty in our knowledge

of the recession velocity of the In survey data taken with the Green

host galaxy (few 100 km/s), Bank Telescope in West Virginia, we

the non-detection of a velocity found a radio millisecond pulsar,

drift leaves open two scenarios: FIRST J1023.47+003841.2 (hereaf-

i) that the main line at –280km/s is truly ter “J1023”). A search in the literature

the blueshifted line complex of the sys-

tem (for which no perceptible velocity

drift is expected); ii) the main maser

line is instead the systemic feature of

the disk-maser but has a velocity drift

smaller than 20km/s per year. This lat-

ter option can be investigated through

the following epochs of the monitor-

ing. Alternatively, the non-detection

of a velocity drift is also compatible

with a jet-maser. The wide line profile

(~300km/s) of the main emission fea-

ture is indeed consistent with this inter-

pretation. However, known jet-masers

typically show a strong flux density

variability, which is not observed in MG

J0414+0534.



References: Impellizzeri et al. 2008, Fig. 20: Artists' conception of J1023 during its active phase and now. Image created by Joeri van

Nature, 456, 927. Leeuwen and Anne Archibald using an X-ray binary simulation program called “binsim”.



December 2009, Number 46 11 NAIC/AO Newsletter

material flowing out from the compan-

ion, possibly forming a shock where it

meets the pulsar wind, and being car-

ried out of the system.



We are taking regular timing observa-

tions of this pulsar with Arecibo for sev-

eral reasons. First of all, a longer timing

baseline will allow us to obtain a bet-

ter measurement of the pulsar's spin-

down, and hence dipole magnetic field

and spin-down luminosity. These tim-

ing observations also support a series

of very long baseline interferometry

observations with the Very Long Base-

line Array, by allowing us to select only

data during which the pulsar's beam

is directed at the earth. The improved

signal-to-noise this provides promises

to allow the measurement of a parallax

distance to J1023. Given our detailed

picture of the system geometry, this will

result in a neutron star mass measure-

ment. Finally, and most tantalizingly,

the fact that this pulsar went through a

one- to two-year active phase as recent-

ly as 2001 suggests the possibility that

it may go through another. Knowing

what we do about the system geom-

Fig. 21: Radio observations of J1023. Panels A, B, C, D, and E show intensity as a function of pulse

phase and orbital phase. Panels A and D are simultaneous observations with the Parkes radio tele-

etry and rotational ephemeris would

scope, panels B and C are observations with the Green Bank Telescope, while panels E and F are provide an unprecedented view into

taken with the Westerbork Synthesis radio telescope. Panel G is based on the same observation as the physics of such an active accretion

panel C, and shows variation of dispersion measure to the source. The roman numeral (i) indicates phase.

one of the orbital-phase-dependent eclipses, while the roman numeral (ii) indicates substantial tim-

ing observations attributable to the DM variation indicated by (iii). The roman numeral (iv) indicates

some of the apparently-random short-term eclipses. The pulse profile to the right of each panel

shows the integrated flux as a function of pulse phase. Unfortunately, the source's declination limits

Arecibo observations to just over an hour per day, so it was not possible to cover a substantial frac- Planets Around the Pulsar PSR

tion of the orbit in a single observation. Nevertheless, the integrated profile next to panel C shows B1257+12: An Analysis of 10

the very high-quality data that can be obtained using the Arecibo telescope with the ASP coherent

dedispersion backend. The sharp features visible here allow timing observations with a scatter well

Years of Arecibo Timings

under a microsecond. Alex Wolszczan (Penn State)

revealed that it was previously known

as an optical and X-ray source, but had

variations in the dispersion measure to

the pulsar, presumably also due to ion- A lex Wolszczan (Penn State) has

concluded a long-term program

of timing of the planets pulsar, PSR

been tentatively classified as a low- ized intrabinary material. Finally, timing

mass X-ray binary. Follow-up with Are- observations revealed variations in the B1257+12. Over the 18-year period

cibo allowed us to confirm the identity orbital period, presumably due to cou- since the discovery of the pulsar in

of the source, giving an orbital ephem- pling between convective motions in 1990, followed by the detection of

eris that agreed in period and phase the Roche-lobe-filling companion and three terrestrial-mass planets around it

with the optical ephemeris. A series of the orbital motion (Fig. 21). in 1991, a dual-frequency timing with

Arecibo observations gave us a very the Arecibo telescope has made it pos-

good picture of the system geometry: Our published paper (Archibald et al. sible to determine the planetary system

we estimate that the orbital inclina- 2009, Science, 324, 1411) therefore parameters with an unprecedented

tion is between 34° and 53°. They also paints a picture of a binary system precision, detect gravitational pertur-

revealed several interesting phenom- which is ending its recycling phase bations between the two outer, more

ena. At certain orbital phases the radio and being born as a millisecond pul- massive planets, and model them to

signal shows “eclipses”, during which sar. Around 2001 it went through an measure their true masses and orbital

the radio emission from the pulsar is episode during which an accretion inclinations. Unfortunately, an interest-

blocked, presumably by ionized intra- disk formed, but sometime in 2002 ing possibility that there could be an-

binary material. Near the beginning the disk was cleared from the system. other, long-period, very low-mass body

and end of these eclipses we observed Now there appears to be some ionized in orbit around the pulsar had to be



December 2009, Number 46 12 NAIC/AO Newsletter

dismissed as being simply due to pulse first, their very existence did carry with bital periods < 50 days, up to 30% of

arrival time variations caused by the it some optimistic predictions. First, the G- and K-dwarfs can have very low-

changing column density of electrons extreme nature of the system's central mass companions.

along the line of sight. body and its evolutionary history did

indicate that planets should indeed be These and many other exciting devel-

The current, 10-year span of the common around various types of stars, opments clearly show that the 17-year

PSR B1257+12 timing with the Penn and that their diversity cannot be eas- old history of extrasolar planet discov-

State Pulsar Machine (PSPM) after the ily foreseen from extrapolations of our ery is far from completion. On the con-

Arecibo upgrade has become long knowledge of the Solar System. This trary, looking back at the pulsar planet

enough to allow a complete modeling prediction found its dramatic confir- discovery and contemplating our rapid-

of the data, without the need to include mation in the celebrated 1995 discov- ly expanding understanding of the di-

the less precise, pre-upgrade measure- ery of the first planet around a normal versity of extrasolar planetary systems,

ments. The residuals from the best-fit star – a "hot Jupiter" in the surprising, one can safely predict that much more

model (Fig. 22) are characterized by 4.2-day orbit around 51 Pegasi by May- excitement awaits us in the future.

a 3.5 µs rms noise and no leftover sys- or and Queloz.

tematic effects. The most recent review

of these and other results on neutron Second, the existence of a system of

star planets can be found in Wolszczan three terrestrial-mass planets, dynami- The Second Arecibo Under-

(2008, Physica Scripta, 130, 014005). cally strikingly similar to the inner Solar graduate ALFALFA Team

System, and with a clear signature of Workshop

The 1991 discovery of planets around a its disk origin, carried with it a predic- Becky Koopmann (Union College)

neutron star has concluded the period tion that the frequency of occurence of

of anticipation, speculations, and of a

curious absence of convincing planet

small, rocky planets among stars may

also be quite high. Today, the rate of

T he NSF-sponsored Undergraduate

ALFALFA Team met January 12–14,

2009, for its second annual workshop at

detections. Although the pulsar plan- "super-Earth" planet discoveries has Arecibo Observatory. This year’s group

ets were definitely not of the kind that been on a spectacular rise, and the numbered 33 participants, including

one had expected to be discovered available statistics suggest that, for or- 18 undergraduates and their faculty

mentors from 15 U.S. undergraduate

institutions (Fig. 23). During their time

at Arecibo, they learned from lectures

and group activities about radio as-

tronomy, Arecibo, and the ALFALFA

(Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA) survey and

participated in ALFALFA observing.



Participants arrived Sunday evening,

January 11, for a kickoff dinner. They

gathered that evening for the first of

several ‘scavenger hunt’ group activi-

ties, which were designed by Martha

Haynes (Cornell University) to stimu-

late group discussion and encourage

active learning. Participants split into

teams made up of students and faculty

of varying expertise. The first activity

was based on the Arecibo telescope,

with questions ranging from identifi-

cation of the tallest support tower, ce-

lestial coordinates, to tracking times of

sources across the dish according to

declination.



On Monday morning, after an official

welcome by Arecibo Site Director Mike

Nolan, the group was given basic lec-

Fig. 22: The best-fit residuals for the timing model of PSR B1257+12 including the standard tures about Arecibo and ALFALFA

pulsar parameters, the three planets, and the perturbations between planets c and d. From presented by team members. As part

top to bottom: residuals at 430 MHz (circles), residuals at 1400 MHz (triangles), and the best-fit of Sabrina Stierwalt’s (Caltech) lecture

to dual frequency data (circles and triangles) with the long-term dispersion measure variations

(bottom panel) corrected for. about the telescope (subtitled ‘If every-



December 2009, Number 46 13 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Fig. 23: The 2009 Undergrad AL-

FALFA Team. Sitting/kneeling: Yia

Xiong (ugrad, UWSP), Lyle Hoffman

(faculty, Lafayette), Peiyuan Mao

(ugrad, Lafayette), Erin Scott (ugrad,

Colgate), Andrew Rodgers (ugrad,

GMU), David Craig (faculty, WTA&M),

Geoff Baum (ugrad, St. Lawrence U)

Becky Koopmann (faculty, Union), Katie

O’Brien (ugrad, Union), Patti Carroll

(ugrad, Siena), Tess Senty (ugrad, HSU,

in back), Erin O’Malley (ugrad, Siena),

Liza Paltz (ugrad, UWSP), Katie Hamren

(ugrad, Cornell), Natalia Ayala (ugrad,

UPR), Ann Martin (grad, Cornell), Jes-

sica Rosenberg (faculty, GMU), Tom

Balonek (faculty, Colgate);

Standing: P.J. Stevens (ugrad, GSU),

Jeff Miller (faculty, StLU), Ron Olowin

(faculty, St. Mary’s), Katie Jore (faculty,

UWSP), Anna Williams (ugrad, Wesley-

an), Sarah Higdon (faculty, GSU), David

Kornreich (faculty, HSU), Jake Turner

(ugrad, Skidmore), Trevor Quirk (ugrad,

Siena), Paul Russell (ugrad, Skidmore),

Martha Haynes (faculty, Cornell), Nancy

Irisarri (ugrad, UPR), Rose Finn (faculty,

Siena), Sabrina Stierwalt (grad, Cornell),

Riccardo Giovanelli (faculty, Cornell).







thing I knew about Arecibo, I learned the basics of observing and illustrated therefore part of the students’ work-

from Golden Eye’), students reported what an observing run would look like shop experience. The drifts that were

answers to scavenger hunt questions, if conducted from the home institution. observed Monday and Tuesday nights

receiving candy prizes. Several of the schools have begun re- skirted the southern Virgo Cluster and

mote observing in 2008 and a team the Leo II group of galaxies, and were

Lectures and group activities were goal is to extend this opportunity to selected in order to search for possible

scheduled in the Learning Center at more schools. environmental alteration of HI content.

the Angel Ramos Visitor Center. The

Learning Center was set up as an elec- Observing is the highlight of the work- The Tuesday morning schedule fea-

tronic classroom, enabling a demon- shop and the major reason the work- tured tours of the platform and dish

stration of remote observing via the shop is held right at Arecibo. Few (Fig. 25 & 26). The tours are far and

internet Monday afternoon. While at- undergraduates have opportunities to away the favorite activity among par-

tendees participated in several observ- visit an observatory. Several observ- ticipants. Students especially appreci-

ing sessions from the control room ing runs were interspersed through- ated the friendly knowledgeable staff

during the workshop, the remote ob- out the workshop, focusing on differ- who conducted the tours.

serving run informed attendees about ent levels of expertise. Overnight runs

Sunday and Monday (Fig. 24) Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon

were divided into beginner sessions began with invited talks by

and experienced runs while NAIC staff members about other ex-

two shorter runs Tuesday citing science projects at Arecibo. On

and Wednesday evenings fo- Tuesday, Ellen Howell described the

cused on training non-expert planetary radar program, including

faculty and seniors working work done on the Moon, Venus, Sat-

on ALFALFA-related theses. urn, and asteroids. On Wednesday,

Students selected target drifts Jonathan Friedman discussed Arecibo

in the weeks before the work- work on the atmosphere, concentrat-

shop, communicating via ing on his work on the mesospheric

email to write and submit a refrigerator.

proposal for observing time.

Fig. 24: Team members conducted several real ALFALFA sur-

This planning of observations The Wednesday morning schedule in-

vey program observations Sunday and Monday 00:15-07:00

and Tuesday and Wednesday 18:30 - 20:00. Here's our Mon- in the same way any large cluded another highlight of the work-

day midnight crew - they don't seem too upset that they had collaboration would was shop – presentations by students who

to get up to observe! have worked on ALFALFA-related re-

December 2009, Number 46 14 NAIC/AO Newsletter

workshop at Arecibo, observing at

Arecibo for several groups per year,

a summer student research stipend

program (beginning in 2009), and

Fig. 25: On Tues- funding to provide computers to each

day morning, team school. Two observing groups

Observatory staff

took us on tours to Arecibo have been sponsored; most

of the platform recently David Kornreich brought two

and the dish. of his students to observe. In total, over

Here one group three dozen undergraduate students

makes its way

back down the have been closely involved in ALFALFA

catwalk. This was science, observing, reducing data, and

voted the favor- extracting scientific results.

ite activity of the

group!

Workshop group activites are available

for public use through the ALFALFA

website (http://egg.astro.cornell.edu/

alfalfa/) Undergrad link.



search projects. Eight undergraduate Participants reluctantly departed Thurs- The workshop organizers thank the

students presented their work, includ- day morning, anticipating their next many NAIC staff who helped in the

ing Patti Carroll and Trevor Quirk (Siena opportunity to visit Arecibo and excited organization and running of the work-

College, advised by Rose Finn), Katie about continued ALFALFA work! shop, including Carmen Segarra, Wil-

Hamren (Cornell University, advised by son Arias, Hector Camacho, Osvaldo

Martha Haynes), Nancy Irisarri (U. Puer- The annual workshop is funded by Colon, Giacomo Comes, Jose Cordero,

to Rico, advised by Martha Haynes and a five-year collaborative NSF grant Jonathan Friedman, Hector Hernen-

Carmen Pantoja), Paul Russell and Jake awarded to ALFALFA members Rebec- dez, Ellen Howell, Victor Negron, Mike

Turner (Skidmore College, advised by ca Koopmann (Union College), Sarah Nolan, Andy Ortiz, Phil Perillat, Carmen

Mary Crone), Erin Scott (Colgate Uni- Higdon (Georgia Southern University), Ruiz, Eva Robles, Alfredo Santoni, Car-

versity, advised by Tom Balonek), and and Thomas Balonek (Colgate Univer- men Torres, Arun Venkataraman, Rey

Anna Williams (Wesleyan University, sity). The grant funds development Velez, Dana Whitlow, the telescope op-

advised by John Salzer). of undergraduate activities at the PIs’ erators, the guards, and Visitor Center

home institutions and 11 other insti- staff.

After the invited talks Tuesday and tutions within the ALFALFA collabo-

Wednesday afternoon, participants ration, including Cornell University,

concentrated on completing group George Mason University, Humboldt

activities focused on reduction of State University, Lafayette College, St. Fifth NAIC/NRAO Single-Dish

ALFALFA data and extraction of de- Lawrence University, Siena College, Summer School

tected sources. Two example ques- Skidmore College, University of Puerto Ellen Howell (NAIC)

tions: “How many seconds does it take Rico, University of Wisconsin-Stevens

for ALFA to drift across a point source?”

and “Under what circumstances would

we expect to see a Gaussian shaped HI

Point, Wesleyan University, and West

Texas A&M University. The program

consists of four core components: the

A recibo Observatory hosted the

fifth Single-Dish Summer School

July 12–18, 2009. This hands-on school

profile, rather than the characteristic gives graduate students and post-docs

two horns?” a thorough grounding in radio astron-

omy fundamentals, a practical guide to

On a lighter note, classic movie trivia data acquisition and calibration, as well

questions were interspersed with these as actual observing experience from

science questions. Newsletter readers planning to presenting results. This

are challenged to answer these two: summer school, supported jointly by

1) “In what classic movie does the {bold NSF, NAIC and NRAO is held every two

physicist hero} say: “You know, there’s years, alternating between Arecibo

such a very thin dividing line between Observatory, PR, and Green Bank, WV.

‘inspiration’ and ‘obsession’, that some- The proceedings from the first such

times it’s very hard to decide which side school, published by the Astronomical

we’re really on!”; 2) “In a very famous Society of the Pacific, serves as a text-

movie, what would be the (r-i) color in- book and reference, and is provided to

dex of Mary Kate Danaher’s hair?” (For participants as part of their registration.

Fig. 26: Here you can see several group mem-

answers, see page 24.) bers in the Gregorian dome. It's hard to capture

the scale in photos, but we all tried!



December 2009, Number 46 15 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Fig. 27: The 2009 Single-Dish Summer School participants.



The events began on the afternoon of A banquet dinner was held on Thurs- especially as it will be Green Bank’s turn

Sunday, July 12 with a welcome from day evening, followed by an interesting to host the event.

Arecibo Observatory Site Director, Mike retrospective by Carl Heiles (UC Berke-

Nolan to the 77 participants (Fig. 27). ley) about telescopes he has used over

After some introductory talks, students the years, many of which have suffered

plunged right in to hands-on observing some catastrophic event. Carl is always HF Facility

projects that evening until midnight. an entertaining as well as thought pro- Mike Sulzer (NAIC)

Invited speakers from NRAO, NAIC and

elsewhere talked about all aspects of

radio astronomy, continuum, spectral

voking speaker.



Many informal discussions and interac-

T he new Arecibo HF is under con-

struction: in summary, the transmit-

ter building (Fig. 28) has been complet-

lines, both point sources and extended tions during the week at break times, ed, the transmitters have been moved

sources. Methods for recognizing and and around the pool in the evenings into it, the antenna modeling work has

dealing with RFI were discussed, as are as important for the students as the been essentially completed, and we

well as the ways that large single dish- more formal summer school activities. are nearly ready to let the contracts on

es complement the science done with In these settings, students make con- the antenna construction. This facility

interferometric arrays. A look ahead nections among themselves, and with was designed to to transmit a high-

to the future of focal plane arrays and faculty speakers that may become criti- power, high-frequency wave into the

planned large-area telescopes as well cal in their later professional careers. Earth’s ionosphere with high reliability

as the science from current and future We are looking forward to the next and safety, using surplus equipment

surveys may inspire many students to summer school event to launch anoth- when possible. The Arecibo 305-m

consider these as attractive thesis top- er group of future radio astronomers, dish provides the required necessary

ics.



In groups of three or four, the students

chose observing projects in an area of

their interest, at either Arecibo or re-

mote observing at the Green Bank Tele-

scope. These included H I observations,

other spectral lines, continuum mea-

surements, polarization, pulsar timing,

and even planetary radar of the planet

Venus. The students collected the data,

and learned to reduce the data, mostly

using IDL. The data analysis was com-

pleted during most of Wednesday and

Thursday, and the groups presented

their results on Friday afternoon to the

other participants.

Fig. 28: The HF transmitter building.

December 2009, Number 46 16 NAIC/AO Newsletter

large effective aperture. A feed using

dipoles and a subreflector is being

constructed to illuminate the dish ef-

ficiently. The high-power transmitters

and transmission lines have been ob-

tained surplus.



Several key engineering issues had to

be solved in order to design and con-

struct this HF facility. The first probem

was to find an antenna geometry to

feed the 305-m dish with an efficient

illumination pattern. A useful solu-

tion must allow other feeds, especially

the two 430-MHz feeds used for the

incoherent scatter radar, to operate

simultaneously. A practical constraint

is that the feed system must not load

the suspended platform. Any solution

Fig. 29: A schematic sketch of the mesh sub-reflector suspended below the telescope’s structure. It

must be modeled accurately to assure will be supported by cables from the towers. Drawing by Star-H Corporation.

proper operation with a minimum of

construction and test time. The de- There were gaps between some of the substation site has been constructed,

sign needed to use available surplus wires and the larger support cables and bids have been received for the

transmitters and incorporate them into that run from the center to the outside. transformers and switching equipment.

the system in an economical way. This had affected the 5.1 MHz more

than that 8.175 MHz because of the The facility is expected to be ready for

The unique design uses a Cassegrain differences in wavelength. Additional testing and initial use in the middle of

subreflector and six pairs of crossed di- modeling runs are being completed 2010. Use of the facility will require a

poles (three operating in each of two to make sure that complete consisten- proposal to be submitted following the

frequency bands). The sub-reflector cy between the wire and earlier solid usual guidelines at the NAIC web site.

will be a light square mesh constructed models is obtained. A workshop will be held in the first half

from 1/16-inch stainless steel cables of 2010 in order to help potential users

(with larger support cables). The sub- Jim Breakall of PSU and Brian Herrold learn about the facility.

reflector will be supported from the of Star-H Corporation traveled to Are-

three main towers, not the platform. cibo for a meeting on October 12 and

A design schematic is shown in Figure 13 to discuss this final modeling, and to

29. The dipoles will be located approxi- talk at length with Felipe Soberal and 2009 Summer Students

mately one half wave length above the Jaime Gago on a variety of matters Program

305-meter dish (and will use it as a re- concerning the dipole antennas, the Diana Prado (UPR-Mayagüez) &

flecting surface) and radiate upwards towers, and the reflecting screen. They Christiano Brum (NAIC)

to the subreflector. The subreflector were also present during the surveying

will direct the rf to the main dish. necessary to locate the tower base po-

sitions under the dish for the six crossed T here were 15 students in the sum-

mer program of 2009 (Fig. 30), nine

under the NSF REU program, two fund-

The antenna modeling and design dipole elements .

stage is essentially complete. Construc- ed from NAIC funds, and four under

tion drawings are in final preparation, The six 100-KW transmitters used at the NSF’s Louis Stokes Alliances for Mi-

and we will be ready to go out for bids the Maine over-the-horizon facility are nority Participation (LSAMP) program

in a few weeks. A few modeling runs located in the large steel transmitter through the University of Puerto Rico

will be conducted to verify that the di- building completed earlier in the year. at Rio Piedras. Most of the students,

poles have the correct lengths to assure The overhead steel structure for hold- including all the REU funded students,

that resonance occurs in the middle of ing and distributing power, etc. has were selected in a competitive process.

the range of the tuning system. The last been ordered. Power will be obtained One teacher from the local Arecibo

design review was held on September from any two of the one-MW diesel Public School system under the Re-

2, 2009 in Ithaca. The only significant generators which AO is purchasing us- search Experience for Teachers (RET)

issue that required follow up was a ing funds provided by the Puerto Rican part of NAIC’s REU grant also partici-

problem with the gain of the system at government. These generators have pated.

5.1 MHz found in the antenna model- multiple uses, including in addition to

ing. After the meeting, the problem the HF, the 2380-MHz planetary radar, Members of the staff provided a series

was quickly traced to problems in the and site backup power. The HF power of seminars specifically for the summer

physical model of the reflecting screen. interns, on topics related to recent re-

December 2009, Number 46 17 NAIC/AO Newsletter

search in astronomy, planetary astron- ple of the interns with primary interests Alex Macomber attends the St. An-

omy, atmospheric sciences, electronics, in computing and engineering. The selm College, New Hampshire, where

and even the geology of Puerto Rico. astronomy students also joined with he majors in electrical engineering.

The speakers included Michael Sulzer, their mentors while they were making Alex was mentored by Dana Whitlow,

Chris Salter, Robert Minchin, Tapasi observations in their own programs. and his project was to analyze the de-

Ghosh, Ellen Howell, Murray Lewis, sign of a new 4-GHz bandwidth IF/LO

Mike Nolan and Jonathan Friedman, REU Funded Students: system for the Observatory. This will

not to mention the exciting visit of the enable the new “Mock” Spectrometers

Alexander Hackett is an electrical

astronauts Joseph Acaba and Steve to process up to 2.1 GHz of bandwidth

engineering student from Penn State

Swanson whom the students had a from a single-pixel receiver. Alex used

University who worked under the su-

chance to meet. The interns also had the RF and Microwave Design Soft-

pervision of Luis Quintero. His task con-

the opportunity to visit the 150-m high ware Genesys to test the various as-

sisted of implementing and document-

telescope platform and explore the en- pects of the design, including its noise

ing an open-source FPGA-based radar

tire Observatory site. During July, some figure, power output and undesired

controller with the help of Ryan Seal, a

of the interns chose to participate in inter-modulation products. Using scat-

former Arecibo engineer. The program-

the Single-Dish Radio Astronomy Sum- tering “S” parameters, he was able to

ming portion of the project entailed

mer School (SDSS), which provided characterize the linear components of

both the C++ and Verilog computer

them with a detailed overview of the the design; using spectral propagation

languages on a Gentoo Linux system.

art, experience with the techniques via and root cause analysis he was able to

His documentation includes both a us-

observations with both Arecibo and, characterize the nonlinear aspects of

er’s manual and technical code docu-

remotely, the 100-m Green Bank Tele- the design. Along with testing the IF

mentation for future development of

scope, and knowledge of many of the system design, Alex was active in test-

the system. Alexander participated in

research applications of single-dish ra- ing the incoming components for the

the poster session competition at the

dio astronomy. design in the laboratory using a Vec-

CEDAR meeting in Santa Fe. His poster

tor Network Analyzer. On several oc-

was titled “An FPGA-based Multi-pur-

Every intern had the opportunity to casions, Alex also assisted in setting

pose Radar Controller for Aeronomy

participate in a hands-on-experiment up the 430-MHz radar transmitters to

Science”.

with the 305-m telescope. The astrono- transmit the dual beam mode during

my interns all participated as did a cou- the summer.



Ali Bramson attends the University

of Wisconsin at Madison where she is

majoring in physics. Ali worked with

Drs. Ellen Howell and Mike Nolan with

data from the Hayabusa spacecraft,

which encountered asteroid 25143

Itokawa in September of 2005. This

provided ground truth on this asteroid’s

shape. Radar data had also been ob-

tained from the Observatory and Gold-

stone (DSS-14) in 2001 and 2004 to as-

sist in the rendezvous, by producing a

preliminary shape model. In hindsight,

the irregular shape of Ikotawa made

radar-based modeling of the asteroid

before the encounter difficult. Model-

ing the data from the spacecraft shows

that the asteroid has two distinct com-

ponents, attached by a “neck”, whereas

the ground-based radar model displays

a more subtle transition from “body” to

“head”. Ali looked at the discrepancy

between the radar shape estimation

and the spacecraft model.



Christopher Faesi is an astronomy

student from Indiana University men-

Fig. 30: 2009 Summer Students. Back row: Cristina Padilla Cintron, Melissa del Pilar Rivera Flores,

José I. López Pérez, Aleshka Carrion Matta, Yaritza de J. Arce, Diana C. Centeno, Daria Auerswald, tored by Dr. Murray Lewis. Christo-

Christopher Faesi, Alex Macomber, Danna N. Qasim; Front row: Alexander L. Hackett, Victoir pher’s work referenced a complete

Veibell, Ali Bramson, Eframir Franco Diaz. sample of IRAS color selected sources

December 2009, Number 46 18 NAIC/AO Newsletter

that had been searched for 1612-MHz found evidence for a high velocity HI average flux of the two polarizations to

OH masers: just a quarter exhibit the shell in the region. From these data, plot the logarithmic flux as a function

maser. The mid-IR (MIR) color distribu- they derived several physical param- of frequency, and hence calculated the

tion of these has a distinct blue cutoff. eters pertaining to the shell, and stud- spectral index and power law spectrum

Initially the task was to use the public ied the interaction of the shell with the index from these plots for each galaxy.

radiative transfer code DUSTY to evalu- interstellar medium.

ate the sensitivity of the 53 µm flux gen- Isaira Rodriguez (RET Teacher) is a

erated by the circumstellar shell that Diana Centeno is a physics student teacher in the Arecibo public school

pumps this maser to effective tempera- from the University of Puerto Rico, system. She initially read selected

ture, optical spectral type, and to the Humacao campus. She worked with publications by astronomers observ-

mass-loss rate and its history. Christo- Dr. Nestor Aponte on data from the F2 ing with the Arecibo planetary radar

pher found that none of these param- region of the ionosphere. First, she cali- system about our solar system. From

eters mattered much. He went on to brated the data using ionosonde data, this material she developed 90-minute

generate a grid of models to explore together with Matlab and ASP routines. workshops about near-Earth-asteroids

the distribution of objects in the NIR v She generated processed files by sepa- (NEAs) at levels suitable for students in

MIR color-color plots, which are respec- rating the MRACF from the topside years 7–9 and 10–12. The content of

tively sensitive to the immediate and to data, so she could generate the ‘.outs’ workshop materials was matched to

the long-term mass-loss rate, and found files. These were then used to make the PR Department of Education Stan-

(i) that this strongly suggests that most plots to establish the amp scale num- dards for Excellence. The workshop

sources do not exhibit modulated mass- ber for fitting the curve. Later, she used materials were designed to immerse

loss; (ii) that the temperature of the hot- the calibrated data to generate plots of the students in general information

test dust is much cooler in objects with- the different parameters for the study about our Solar System and the various

out masers, which is suggestive of a dif- of the ionosphere such as electron den- discoveries made by astronomers us-

ferent dust composition. Christopher sity, peak height, ion and electron tem- ing the Arecibo radar system focusing

went on to cross-reference the optical perature, and hydrogen, helium and on asteroids and their potential threat

spectral types where available, and the oxygen ion fractions from the topside to Earth. The workshop deliveries in-

variable type from the General Catalog and MRACF data. cluded a Power Point presentation, a

of Variable Stars with maser status. He teacher/student workshop manual, a

finds that the great majority of objects Victoir Veibell studies at Embry-Rid- Standard of Excellence matching ma-

without masers are semi regular or dle Aeronautical University in Arizona. trix and three well-developed hands-

L-type (slow irregular) variables, where- He worked under the supervision of on activities. The workshop was tested

as most with masers are Miras or have Dr. Arun Venkataraman in restructur- with two high school groups of 30 stu-

an M spectral type. ing the fiber-optic network backbone dents each and achieved very positive

within the Observatory, to improve its results. The workshop will be added to

Danna Qasim attends the North- bandwidth and efficiency. Also, he had the Visitor Center workshop offerings

ern Arizona University. The focus for the opportunity to work with Dr. Sixto for visiting school groups.

her work in radio astronomy used the González on fixing the Online Data

technique of interferometry under the Monitor, the CADI database, and the Isaira was very enthusiastic about the

supervision of Dr. Tapasi Ghosh. The Aeronomy Online database. project assigned to her and very thank-

MERLIN telescope (an aperture synthe- ful for the opportunity. She mentioned

sis telescope located in England) was Yaritz de Jesus Arce is an electrical that the experience gained during her

used to collect data from methanimine engineering student at the Univer- RET appointment at the Observatory

molecules in the ultra-luminous infra- sity of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Cam- helped to develop her skills on curricu-

red galaxy, Arp 220. Danna studied pus. Yaritza worked with Drs. Rob- lum design in many positive ways. She

the flux density of methanimine using ert Minchin, Tapasi Ghosh and Chris also mentioned her gratitude at being

the software AIPS (Astronomical Im- Salter in determining the synchroton able to work closely with scientists,

age Processing System). For Arp 220, radiation contribution to the flux of which was for her a unique career ex-

she looked at frequencies circa 5.1GHz. galaxies in the SCUBA Local Universe perience.

After carefully calibrating her data, she Galaxy Survey. To achieve this objec-

produced excellent images of her re- tive, she analyzed the NRAO VLA Sky NSF LSAMP Funds:

sults. Survey (NVSS) results together with

Aleshka Carrion Matta is a phys-

Arecibo observations that were made

ics student at the University of Puerto

Daria Auerswald is an astrophys- using the Wideband Arecibo Pulsar

Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. During

ics student from San Diego State Uni- Processor (WAPP). First, she fitted the

her participation in the program, she

versity, who worked with Dr. Ji-hyun data, using Interactive Data Language

learned to use the International Refer-

Kang on a project involving the map- (IDL) programs, for over 230 galaxies

ence Ionosphere model (IRI). Her task

ping of the Galactic Super Nova Rem- to determine the flux detected at Are-

was to compare data taken from the IRI

nant (SNR) G54.4–0.3/HC40 in neutral cibo at S-band (2150 MHz), C-band

model (URSI and CCIR coefficients) with

hydrogen (HI). While analyzing data (4500 MHz), C-high (6750 MHz) and

the incoherent scatter radar data, and

taken from the IGALFA survey, they X-band (8550 MHz). She calculated the

December 2009, Number 46 19 NAIC/AO Newsletter

the Arecibo Observatory ionospheric Melissa Rivera, Jose worked on a proj- tal process results were as expected,

model (2009 version), by comparing ect based on the design and implemen- giving the antenna a keen sensitivity

the variability of the peak density in tation of a helical antenna that works at and good response to electromagnetic

the F region of the ionosphere. Data a 7.14-GHz frequency and has a specif- flux within its limits. After the finaliza-

were sorted by season and compared ic impedance of 50 ohms. The purpose tion of this project, the antenna is go-

with the decimetric solar flux for both was to obtain circular polarization, ing to be analyzed at the Lunar Recon-

the current and previous solar cycles. which is characteristic of this type of naissance Orbiter Research Laboratory

Aleshka worked under the supervision antenna. A network analyzer was used at John Hopkins University. Melissa was

of Dr. Christiano Brum. to measure the working frequency and supervised by Mr. Ganesh Rajagopalan,

the impedance. During the experimen- Electronics Department Head.

Cristina Padilla Cintron is a physics tal process results were as expected,

student at the University of Puerto Rico, giving the antenna a keen sensitivity We acknowledge and thank the Ob-

Rio Piedras Campus. She worked with and good response to electromagnetic servatory staff members, Wilson Arias,

Dr. Sixto Gonzalez on a project compar- flux within its limits. After the finaliza- Carmen Segarra, Carmen Torres, Jose

ing the Arecibo Observatory topside tion of this project, the antenna is go- Cordero, Maria Judith Rodriguez, Lucy

data with the International Reference ing to be analyzed at the Lunar Recon- Lopez, and all the guards for their co-

Ionosphere (IRI). The main objective naissance Orbiter Research Laboratory operation and time in assisting with the

was to adjust the existing models of the at John Hopkins University. Jose was day-to-day needs of the students. Also,

upper atmosphere, so that in future we supervised by Mr. Ganesh Rajagopalan, special thanks to Dr. Ji-hyun Kang, Eva

might be able to predict the behavior of Electronics Department Head. Robles and Dr. Robert Minchin for their

the Earth’s ionosphere. Part of her proj- collaboration with the summer stu-

ect involved programming with Mat- NAIC Funds: dents and to Jill Tarbell (NAIC/Ithaca)

lab. She attended the CEDAR meeting for managing the application process

Edvier Cabassa-Miranda is a gradu-

in Santa Fe, which gave her the oppor- and student travel arrangements.

ate student from the electrical engi-

tunity to learn different aspects of the

neering department at the University

atmospheric sciences. She also spent a

of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. He

week in the University of Texas at Ar-

worked on calibrating the World Day

lington working with Dr. Ramón López.

data in order to update the aeronomy

His research interest is based on mag-

database. He learned how to use ASP,

netospheric physics. She learned how

get the MRACF records from the data-

to create simulations of the magneto-

files and to calibrate them using the

sphere using VPython and CISM_DX.

site’s ionosonde. He made a poster of

VPython is the Python programming

this work, which he presented at the

language plus a 3D graphics module

CEDAR meeting in Sante Fe. In his

called “visual” developed by David

poster, Edvier compares his data to the

Scherer in 2000. CISM_DX is a com-

Observatory’s Ionospheric Model. After

munity-developed suite of integrated

the meeting, he worked on program-

data, models and model explorers, for

ming in MATLAB to generate a GUI to

research and education.

automate the process of calibrating the

power records for Arecibo data. Once

Eframir Franco Diaz had just gradu-

finished, he then compiled and cali-

ated from the Pedro Mercado Bougat

brated the data from 1999 until 2009

high school in Humacao, and plans to

using his GUI.

attend the University of Puerto Rico at

Humacao to major in applied electron-

ic physics. This summer he worked with Melissa Rivera graduated from the

Dr. Nestor Aponte on the ionosphere electrical engineering department at

and its interaction with the solar wind. the University of Puerto Rico, Maya-

He also learned how to calibrate data guez Campus. Along with Jose Lopez,

from the radiotelescope using Matlab Melissa worked on a project based

and Asp software. His particular project on the design and implementation

consisted in comparing the resulting of a helical antenna that works at a

topside ionosphere total electron con- 7.14-GHz frequency and has a specific

tent with data derived from operating impedance of 50 ohms. The purpose

GPS receivers. was to obtain circular polarization,

which is characteristic of this type of

Jose Lopez is an undergraduate stu- antenna. A network analyzer was used

dent from the physics department at to measure the working frequency and

UPR, Rio Piedras Campus. Along with the impedance. During the experimen-



December 2009, Number 46 20 NAIC/AO Newsletter

COMINGS AND GOINGS









December 2009, Number 46 21 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Paulo Freire Stephen Jensen the Air Force with his last assignment

Murray Lewis (NAIC) Ellen Howell (NAIC) being Professor of Aerospace Science

and Head of the

P aulo joined the Astronomy group

as a Post Doc in May, 2001 and fin-

ished as a Senior Research Associate in

W e bid farewell to Stephen Jensen

on September 30, 2009. Stephen

had worked at Are-

ROTC program

at Cornell. He is

already deep into

June, 2009. He has been recruited by cibo for one year as

a large number

Dr. Michael Kramer to join his new pul- a radio frequency

of budgetary and

sar group at the Max Planck Institute engineer. We are

other tasks and

for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. In his sorry to see him

keeping every-

role as the resident pulsar expert, Paulo go, but wish him

one focused on

friended all of the Observatory’s pulsar well in the future,

what has to be

observers. He is himself an enthusiastic where his immedi-

done. Jim will clearly be a very worthy

observer, who has helped to maintain ate plans include

successor to Dave Howe.

the efficiency of the PALFA program, getting married.

and from its start has been an energetic Best of luck, Stephen!

promoter of its program. It also fell to

Paulo to help to plan the procedures

of PALFA to support its commensal Dave Howe hands over to Jim

partners, and to be pointman in com- Blair

missioning the Mock spectrometers for Don Campbell (NAIC)

pulsar users. Paulo was instrumental in

D ave Howe, NAIC’s Administrative

Director since August, 2007, has

been promoted by Cornell to be the Di-

rector of Administration for the Univer-

sity’s Facilities Department. Upon join-

ing NAIC, Dave immediately impressed

everyone with his clear minded and di-

rect approach to getting things done.

In addition to the

traditional bud-

getary respon-

sibilities of his

position, Dave

worked closely

bringing the Gravitational Wave Data with Observatory

Analysis Workshop GWDAW-13 to and Cornell staff

Puerto Rico in January 2009. And in on issues related

the last couple of years, he has been an to staff recruit-

invited speaker at many meetings. He ment, environmental health and safety,

continues as an active observer, and new projects, NSF and Cornell audits,

visited us again as a participant in the and Cornell’s and the Observatory’s

“Arecibo Surveys Workshop”. relationship with the government of

Puerto Rico. Dave handled all of these

If there is one word to describe Paulo, it issues with care, attention and decisive-

is enthusiasm. Whenever one encoun- ness. His talents were clearly recog-

tered him, he had a fresh topic or sub- nized in the wider Cornell community

stantial new spin on an old one. These and it was not a surprise that he was

were often “special” pulsars, but not al- appointed to a more senior position.

ways. He has a deep appreciation for Dave is a great person to work with

orbital dynamics, and applied this on and NAIC is fortunate that he has con-

occasion to solar system bodies. One tinued to be of assistance since taking

such was his explanation for the equa- up his new position. Best wishes in the

torial ridge on Iapetus. But he can wax new position, Dave.

eloquent on many topics. I found this

a source of joy. We all appreciate his After an extensive search, Jim Blair was

many contributions to the Observa- selected as NAIC’s new Administrative

tory, and wish him the very best for the Director taking up the position on Oc-

future. tober 1, 2009. Jim comes to NAIC from

December 2009, Number 46 22 NAIC/AO Newsletter

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES







Telescope Systems

Specialist

The National Astronomy and Iono-

Research Associate/Post-Doctoral Associates

sphere Center is seeking to fill a soft- in Radio and Planetary Astronomy

ware development position at the

Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. NAIC anticipates having two or, possibly, three openings for Research Asso-

The Telescope Systems Specialist will ciate / Post-Doctoral Associates in the radio astronomy and planetary radar

work with the Observatory’s scientif- groups at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. A “visiting” appointment

ic and engineering teams to provide would also be considered. Applicants with research interests related to HI

technical support for instrumental in our galaxy or external galaxies, pulsars or VLBI observations are preferred.

control, data acquisition, and data There is a specific opening for a Post-Doctoral Research Associate with an inter-

analysis; will assist in decision mak- est in near-Earth objects.

ing and project planning; identify

and monitor telescope data for prob- The candidate selected will have competitive access to the 305-m diameter

lems that might affect the function- Arecibo telescope and its suite of receivers spanning the frequency range from

ing and performance of engineering 300 MHz to 10 GHz, and its backend signal processors capable of analyzing

subsystems; propose and implement bandwidths up to 800 MHz. A Mark 5A VLBI system is used for ultra-wideband

solutions as appropriate. The posi- interferometric observations with other large telescopes in the US and Europe.

tion requires working at the inter- The multibeam, Arecibo L-Band Feed Array (ALFA), and the community-based

face between astronomers who use legacy surveys it supports, provides a wealth of opportunities for the successful

the Arecibo 305-m radio telescope applicant to be engaged in a collaborative role with the more than 100 stu-

and the details of antenna pointing, dents and scientists who are conducting ALFA survey observations at Arecibo.

data acquisition, etc. A major respon- The Arecibo high powered S-band radar system has unique capabilities for the

sibility will be the continued devel- study of near-Earth objects.

opment of CIMA, the user interface

for most astronomical observations. All NAIC staff members are employees of Cornell University, which manages

CIMA allows both local and remote NAIC under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

operation of the telescope and is Scientific staff members are expected to have broad scientific interests, and for

under continuous development to that reason a generous travel allowance is provided to encourage staff mem-

support the addition of new obser- bers to participate in scientific conferences and maintain external research

vational programs and instrumenta- collaborations using other telescopes worldwide. Besides conducting an inde-

tion. Minimum requirements for the pendent research program, on-site staff scientists are expected to advise visit-

position are a bachelor’s degree in ing scientists on all aspects of their observing programs, and to help define

computer science or related field and implement improvements to the Observatory’s instruments, observing

and at least five years experience, techniques and signal processing facilities.

with knowledge of the Linux operat-

ing system and high-level languages A PhD in astronomy or a related field is required. Research Associates are

such as C, Tcl/Tk & Perl. Experience appointed for an initial three-year period, while post-doctoral appointments

with astronomical observations and are initially for one year with extensions possible up to three years. All ap-

software is strongly desired. The suc- pointments at Arecibo are contingent upon the continuation of Cornell Uni-

cessful candidate will be an employ- versity’s cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation for the

ee of Cornell University and eligible operation of NAIC. Salary and benefits are competitive, attractive and include

for the relevant University benefits. a relocation allowance. Details will depend on the candidate’s qualifications

Candidates with a PhD in a relevant and experience. Please send a complete curriculum vita, including academic,

field are encouraged to apply and professional and personal data, a research plan, and names and contact in-

would be considered for an aca- formation of three references to: Director, NAIC, 502 Space Sciences, Cornell

demic appointment. Enquiries and University, Ithaca, NY 14853-6801 (or by email to Jill Tarbell, jtm14@cornell.

applications should be addressed to edu). Inquiries may be sent to Jill Tarbell as well. EOE/AAE. Applications will

Dr. Michael Nolan, Director, Arecibo be considered starting on January 20, 2010. For further information about the

Observatory, HC3 Box 53995, Areci- NAIC Arecibo Observatory see http://www.naic.edu.

bo, PR, 00612; Nolan@naic.edu. Ap-

plications will be considered starting

February 1, 2010. EOE/AAE.



December 2009, Number 46 23 NAIC/AO Newsletter

Notes to Observers

1. We would like to remind our readers that when you publish a paper using observations made with the Arecibo

Observatory, please provide us with a reprint of your article. Reprints should be sent to: Librarian, Arecibo Observa-

tory, HC3 Box 53995, Arecibo, PR 00612. Or, if you do not order reprints, please send publication information to

csegarra@naic.edu.

2. Additionally, any publication that makes use of Arecibo data should include the following acknowledgement:

“The Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, which is operated by Cornell

University under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.”

3. Remote observing is available for experienced observers and established projects only. First-time observers

must travel to the Observatory. Observers are also encouraged to visit the Observatory when starting a new observ-

ing program, or if they have not observed with the current software and user interface.









Proposal Deadline

The next deadline for proposal submission will be 1 February 2010 (although proposals may be submitted at

any time). Submission for a given deadline implies that the observations are requested to be initially scheduled

during the four-month period which starts four months after that deadline. Proposals have a validity of two

four-month cycles. If a proposal has not been scheduled after this second period, it will not be considered further

unless it is resubmitted. Large proposals submitted by February 1 will be reviewed in August 2010 at the yearly

skeptical review, in addition to the regular scientific review.

A complete list of receivers available for this deadline can be seen at http://www.naic.edu/~astro/RXstatus.

Use of the Arecibo Observatory is available on an equal competitive basis to all scientists from throughout the

world to pursue research in radio astronomy, radar astronomy and atmospheric sciences. Observing time is

granted on the basis of the most promising research. Potential users of the telescope should submit a proposal

to the Observatory Director describing their desired observations and the scientific justification for these. The

procedures for submitting proposals, the mechanics of evaluation and the life-cycle of these proposals, are out-

lined at the website below.

Consortium members are reminded that follow-up time for objects discovered during surveys require a separate

proposal. For full details and policies regarding follow-up proposals, please refer to the website.

http://www.naic.edu/~astro/proposals.









Answers to trivia

questions on Page 15 are: Happy

New Year!

1) The Dam Busters (1955)

2) ~1 (the movie is 1952’s The Quiet

Man)









http://www.naic.edu







The NAIC/AO Newsletter is published two times a year by the NAIC. The NAIC is operated by Cornell University under a cooperative agreement with the

National Science Foundation. Ellen Howell (ehowell@naic.edu), Editor; Tony Acevedo, Graphics; Jill Tarbell (jtm14@cornell.edu), Layout and Distribution Editor.



December 2009, Number 46 24 NAIC/AO Newsletter