radio astronomy
Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
located near
Big Pine, California
Big Pine (formerly, Bigpine) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. Big Pine is located approximately south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of . The population was 1,756 at the 2010 census, up from 1,35 ...
(US) in
Owens Valley
Owens Valley (Numic
Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Pl ...
. It lies east of the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
, approximately north of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and southeast of
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. It was established in 1956, and is owned and operated by the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
(Caltech). The
Owens Valley Solar Array
The Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA), also known as Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA), is an astronomical radio telescope array, located at Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), near Big Pine, California, with main interests in studying th ...
portion of the observatory has been operated by
New Jersey Institute of Technology
{{Infobox university
, name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology
, image = New Jersey IT seal.svg
, image_upright = 0.9
, former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...
(NJIT) since 1997.
One of the ten dish-antenna radiotelescope systems of the
Very Long Baseline Array
The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is a system of ten radio telescopes which are operated remotely from their Array Operations Center located in Socorro, New Mexico, as a part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). These ten radi ...
is located on a sublease within the Owens Valley observatory.
About
The Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), one of the largest university-operated radio observatories in the world, has its origins in the late 1940s with three individuals: Lee DuBridge, president of
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
(Caltech); Robert Bacher, chairman of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy; and Jesse Greenstein, professor of astrophysics. In 1954, Caltech occupied a central position in the American radio astronomy program.
John Bolton
John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Sta ...
and Gordon Stanley, two respected Australian astronomers, joined the Caltech faculty in order to undertake the construction of large dishes. In 1956 the first radio telescope, a antenna, was erected on
Palomar Mountain
Palomar Mountain ( ; es, Monte Palomar ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County. It is famous as the location of the Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for the Palomar Mountain State Park.
Hist ...
. It was dismantled in 1958 and transferred to the Owens Valley site. At the same time, two telescopes were completed. Ten years later, an even bigger antenna, a dish was finished. Over the period of 1985 to 1996, a millimeter-wave array was commissioned at OVRO. It consisted of six dishes (also called Leighton's dishes). The millimeter array dishes become part of CARMA when that array was commissioned.
OVRO has used its telescopes and other instruments (listed below) to improve on the locations of radio sources in the sky, to study
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
clouds within the
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
, galaxy formation, active galactic nuclei ("blazars"), fast radio bursts, and other radioastronomical phenomena. This research is performed by the staff at the observatory with help from professors and post-doctoral students from many institutions. The observatory is different from other radio observatories because of its extensive work with graduate students, who can come to the observatory for long-term observation, benefiting not only the students, but also the observatory as it allows for more comprehensive projects to take place.
CARMA
OVRO staff took a large share of the responsibility for operating CARMA, which was located east of OVRO in the
Inyo Mountains
The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately south-southeast fro ...
, but was decommissioned in 2015. CARMA was a collaboration between Caltech,
University of California Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
,
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
,
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, and
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
to observe space at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths with a 23-element
interferometer
Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference'' of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber op ...
. CARMA used this interferometer to study the origins of planets, stars and galaxies, as well as to measure the distortions in the cosmic microwave background caused by clusters of galaxies formed soon after the
Big Bang
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
.
Instruments
* COMAP, or Carbon Monoxide Mapping Array Pathfinder, was commissioned in November 2018 to create
carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...
density maps of the universe between
redshift
In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in f ...
s of 3 and 4. The COMAP receiver is installed on one of the 10-meter telescopes of the former millimeter array.
* KuPol, or Ku-band Polarimeter, is an instrument that was installed on the
OVRO 40 meter Telescope
The OVRO 40 meter Telescope is a radio telescope at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory near Big Pine, California, US. It is owned and operated by Caltech. The telescope is easily visible from the section of US highway 395 just north of Big Pine ...
in 2007 and is used to monitor blazars.
* The
Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array
The Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA), also known as Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA), is an astronomical radio telescope array, located at Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), near Big Pine, California, with main interests in studying t ...
(EOVSA) is a solar radio telescope array currently in operation at OVRO. It incorporates seven refurbished dishes from OVSA, along with eight new antennas, and one of OVRO's 27-meter telescopes. The small dishes are arranged in a three-arm spiral pattern.
* The Owens Valley Long Wavelength Array, commissioned in 2013, is a duplicate of the
Long Wavelength Array
The Long Wavelength Array (LWA) is a radio telescope in central New Mexico. It began preliminary tests of the hardware in 2011, and began regular operations in late 2015. It is one of the few observatories to utilize relatively low frequencies ( ...
in New Mexico. It consists of 288 dipole antennas spread out over a desert area equivalent to about 450 football fields. The OVRO-LWA produces whole-sky radio images in the 30 to 88 megahertz band.
* The Deep Synoptic Array (DSA) is an array of 10 parabolic radio telescopes currently used to detect and locate
Fast Radio Burst
In radio astronomy, a fast radio burst (FRB) is a transient radio pulse of length ranging from a fraction of a millisecond to 3 seconds, caused by some high-energy astrophysical process not yet understood. Astronomers estimate the average FRB rel ...
s (FRB)s.
Former instruments
* The
Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy
The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) was an astronomical instrument comprising 23 radio telescopes, dedicated in 2006. These telescopes formed an astronomical interferometer where all the signals are combined in a ...
(CARMA) was a 23-antenna interferometer located at Cedar Flat in
Westgard Pass
Westgard Pass is a mountain pass on State Route 168 in Inyo County, California in the U.S. state of California. The pass lies at an elevation of and is located in between the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains ranges in the Basin and Range Pr ...
, approximately east of the main OVRO site at . It incorporated dishes from the MMA, the former
cosmic background radiation
Cosmic background radiation is electromagnetic radiation from the Big Bang. The origin of this radiation depends on the region of the spectrum that is observed. One component is the cosmic microwave background. This component is redshifted pho ...
research. A unique feature of the telescope was the use of radio-transparent foam to support the secondary mirror. The telescope began operating in 2009 and was decommissioned in 2015.
* The Huan Tran Telescope (HTT) is the primary instrument of the
POLARBEAR
POLARBEAR (POLARization of the Background Radiation) is a cosmic microwave background polarization experiment located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile in the Antofagasta Region. The POLARBEAR experiment is mounted on the Huan Tran Telescope ...
project to measure the polarization of the
cosmic microwave background radiation
In Big Bang cosmology the cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR) is electromagnetic radiation that is a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic background radiation filling all spac ...
. It is a
Gregorian telescope
The Gregorian telescope is a type of reflecting telescope designed by Scottish mathematician and astronomer James Gregory in the 17th century, and first built in 1673 by Robert Hooke. James Gregory was a contemporary of Isaac Newton. Both often ...
with
bolometer
A bolometer is a device for measuring radiant heat by means of a material having a temperature-dependent electrical resistance. It was invented in 1878 by the American astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley.
Principle of operation
A bolometer ...
s cooled to less than . HHT was first installed for testing at the CARMA site in 2010. It was moved to
Llano de Chajnantor Observatory
Llano de Chajnantor Observatory is the name for a group of astronomical observatories located at an altitude of over 4,800 m (15,700 ft) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The site is in the Antofagasta Region approximately 50 kil ...
in 2011 and began operating there in early 2012. It was developed by a consortium led by the University of California, Berkeley.
* The
Owens Valley Solar Array
The Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA), also known as Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA), is an astronomical radio telescope array, located at Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), near Big Pine, California, with main interests in studying th ...
(OVSA) was a seven-dish solar radio telescope array located at the main OVRO site until 2008. It was built by Caltech and was operated by the
New Jersey Institute of Technology
{{Infobox university
, name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology
, image = New Jersey IT seal.svg
, image_upright = 0.9
, former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...
(NJIT) from 1997. It consisted of two antennas and five antennas. The OVSA antennas are being incorporated into EOVSA in a different configuration.
* The Millimeter Array (MMA) was a six-element radio telescope array located at the main OVRO site until 2005, when the dishes were moved to Cedar Flat and incorporated into CARMA. After CARMA was decommissioned, the millimeter array dishes were moved back to their original location at OVRO and have been repurposed for other projects.
Future instruments
* An expanded, 100-element Deep Synoptic Array is currently under construction. It is scheduled for commissioning in 2020 with 100 operational dishes.
* In 2020, construction will begin on an expansion to the Long Wavelength Array. This expansion will add 64 fiber-linked antennas at long baselines, and incorporate a new, more powerful and versatile analog and digital back end.
In popular culture
In the film '' The Arrival'' (1996), Zane Zaminsky (
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), ''The Thr ...
) and Calvin (
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...
) work at Owens Valley for the
SETI
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other p ...
Project and discover an alien signal.
In the film ''
Contact
Contact may refer to:
Interaction Physical interaction
* Contact (geology), a common geological feature
* Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye
* Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects
* ...
'' (1997), the Owens Valley 40-meter telescope is mentioned as the location where Dr. Eleanor Arroway (
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the ho ...
) did her thesis work.
See also
*
Atacama Large Millimeter Array
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an astronomical interferometer of 66 radio telescopes in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which observe electromagnetic radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The a ...
*
List of radio telescopes
This is a list of radio telescopes – over one hundred – that are or have been used for radio astronomy. The list includes both single dishes and interferometric arrays. The list is sorted by region, then by name; unnamed telescopes are in r ...
*
List of astronomical observatories
This is a list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in ...