Radio Astronomy in the Desert

Radio Astronomy in the Desert If you drive across the Plains of San Agustin in central west New Mexico, youll come across an array of radio telescopes, all pointed toward the sky. This collection of big dishes is called the Very Large Array, and its collectors combine to make a very large radio eye on the sky. Its sensitive to the radio part of the  electromagnetic spectrum  (EMS). Radio Waves from Space? Objects in space give off radiation from all parts of the EMS. Some are brighter in some parts of the spectrum than others. Cosmic objects that give off radio emissions are undergoing exciting and energetic processes. The science of radio astronomy is the study of those objects and their activities. Radio astronomy reveals an unseen part of the universe we cannot detect with our eyes, and its a branch of astronomy that began when the first radio telescopes were built in the late 1920s by Bell Labs physicist Karl Jansky. More about the VLA There are radio telescopes around the planet, each tuned to frequencies in the radio band that come from naturally emitting objects in space. The VLA is one of the most famous and its full name is the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. It has 27 radio telescope dishes arranged in a Y-shaped pattern. Each antenna is large - 25 meters (82 feet) across. The observatory welcomes tourists and provides background information about how the telescopes are used. Many people are familiar with the array from the movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster.  The VLA is also known as the EVLA (Expanded VLA), with upgrades to its electronics, data handling, and other infrastructure. In the future it may  get additional dishes.   The VLAs antennas  can be used individually, or they can be hooked together to create a virtual radio telescope up to 36 kilometers wide! That allows the VLA to focus in on some very small areas of sky to gather details about such events and objects as stars turning on, dying in supernova and hypernova  explosions, structures inside giant clouds of gas and dust (where stars might be forming), and the action of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The VLA has also been used to detect molecules in space, some of them precursors to pre-biotic (related to life) molecules common here on Earth.   VLA History The VLA was built in the 1970s. The upgraded facility carries a full observing load for astronomers around the world. Each dish is moved into position by railroad cars, creating the correct configuration of telescopes for specific observations. If astronomers want to focus on something extremely detailed and distant, they can use the VLA in conjunction with telescopes stretching from St. Croix in the Virgin Islands to Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This larger network is called the Very Large Baseline Interferometer (VLBI), and it creates a telescope with a resolving area the size of a continent. Using this larger array, radio astronomers have succeeded in measuring the event horizon around our galaxys black hole, joined the search for dark matter in the universe, and explored the hearts of distant galaxies.   The future of radio astronomy is big. There are huge new arrays built in South America, and under construction in Australia and South Africa. Theres also a single dish in China measuring 500 meters (about 1,500 feet) across. Each of these radio telescopes is set well apart from the radio noise generated by human civilization. Earths deserts and mountains, each one with its own special ecological niches and landscapes, are also precious to radio astronomers. From those deserts, astronomers continue to explore the cosmos, and  the VLA remains central to the work being done to understand the radio universe, and takes its rightful place with its newer siblings.

Womens Right to Education

Womens Right to Education Hashtag: #HappyWomensDay The Struggle for Formal Education The international Women’s Day is celebrated to recognize the struggles and achievements of women around the word. Two of the most prominent of these achievements are the right to vote and the right to education. The struggle for women’s equality began in early 19th century. In the 1830’s, while maintaining their role as wives and mothers, women’s movement in America sought to broaden their knowledge through a formal college education. However, the cult of motherhood and limited social and political rights during that time restricted this education to home application. For instance, the American educators who pushed for women’s education justified their efforts on the benefits of education in the domestic sphere, in marriage, and motherhood. Consequently, colleges offered a limited range of courses that are mostly relevant to women’s role as homemakers and mothers. The fight for their right to education was further made difficult and prolonged by the fear that educated women would abandon their traditional domestic duties and intrude upon the male sphere. In fact, the male-dominated popular press of the early 20th century even publicized the notion that women are destined parlor, nursery, and kitchen workers and mentally and physiologically incapable of education. Moreover, although firmly promoting equality for women, the movement itself during that time had no strong position on the role of educated women in western society and in fact spreading the doctrine of separate spheres. Women had achieved the right to vote in the 1920 but made little progress in their struggle for employment and education. Women remained largely excluded in the educational system until they started to pursue higher education and earned more bachelors degree than men in the 1980s. Achieving Gender Equality Through Education Education for women is one of UNESCO’s gender equality priorities. Consequently, most educational systems around the world offer women education and empowerment. Women’s continuing effort to improved their knowledge and skills not only resulted in the creation of more institutions for women’s learning but recognition of the fact that women’s education is as necessary and beneficial as that of men. The study shows that that are more women in formal education now than in the past. The reason is that formal schooling not only enhanced their opportunity for employment but also improved their conditions in life. In developing countries, for instance, educational helped women meet their practical gender needs, benefit from salaried employment and healthier households. However, due to cultural attitudes, women in some developing nations appear restrained and need to put more effort in their quest equality, knowledge, and skills. Although the majority of developing nations, provide women greater access to formal education, they are restrained by cultural attitudes pertaining to female education. In fact, study shows that education for females in some African countries lagged behind that of males. Some of the barriers found include sexual abuse and harassment, particularly in mixed gender schools. Education had already improved the lives of millions of women around the world. They have greater access to higher education offered by public and private universities. Women are increasingly benefitting from online courses offered by Open University and Continuing Education Programs. They are now empowered, independent, have greater participation in government, and better employment opportunities.