Arecibo Observatory: Unparalleled Science and Discovery

Course Overview:

Arecibo Observatory is a multi-faceted research center and is home to multiple facilities, including until recently one of the world’s largest single-aperture telescopes. The complex enables observations to study objects from our own atmosphere to the farthest reaches of the Universe. This seminar will highlight scientific observations and discoveries enabled by AO, including current studies. The core content will be a series of topic-focused lectures given by leading AO researchers, as well as technical presentations about the telescope, facilities, and operations. The format encourages questions and discussion from the in-person and online audience.

The lectures will be offered online through Zoom in real-time and will be recorded for future reference. Lectures will typically be held on Mondays at 10:30 am EDT/EST [50 min lecture + 30 min discussion]. There will be an online discussion of the Monday lecture topic on the following Wednesday at 10:30 am EDT/EST. The discussion will also be recorded and archived on the course website.

This course is sponsored jointly by the University of Central Florida and the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI).

Weekly Lecture Schedule

(all lectures Mondays at 10:30 am EDT/EST except where noted*)

Date 

Speaker

Topic 

11-Jan   Class organization, Introduction to Arecibo, Current Status
20-Jan* Luisa Fernanda Zambrano-Marin History of the Arecibo Observatory (pre-class video)
25-Jan Ben Perera Radio Astronomy: Pulsar Timing

1-Feb Anish Roshi Radio Astronomy: The Interstellar Medium

8-Feb PK Manoharan Radio Astronomy: Remote Sensing the 3-D Heliosphere

15-Feb Mike Sulzer/Selvaraj Dharmalingam SAS: Incoherent Scatter Radar at Arecibo

22-Feb Jens Lautenbach/ Shika Raizada SAS: Introduction to light detection and ranging (lidar) in atmospheric sciences and their applications

1-Mar Pedrina Terra/Christiano Brum/
Sukanta Sau
SAS: Airglow Remote sensing of the Upper Atmosphere

8-Mar Maxime Devogèle/Dylan Hickson Planetary: Radar as a tool to study the Solar System

15-Mar Sean Marshall Planetary: Introduction to shape modeling

22-Mar Flaviane Venditti Planetary: Asteroids’ orbits and perturbation detection

29-Mar Julio Alvarado Negron Big Data: AO Archives: Big Data from a big dish
Wed: STAR Academy Presentations
5-Apr Luis Quintero Programmatic: Arecibo as an Engineering Wonder (and possibilities for AO2.0)

19-Apr Francisco Córdova Programmatic: Arecibo Observatory: How to manage a giant icon of science and prospects for the future

26-Apr   Student Final Presentations