Uncategorized
MSU, partners receive $14.5 million for gravitation center
Published
9 years agoon
MSU News Service
BOZEMAN – Montana State University is part of a national network that recently received $14.5 million to create and operate a center for detecting gravitational waves, an achievement expected to offer radical new insights about the universe.
The National Science Foundation announced March 30 that it had awarded the grant to the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) to establish a Physics Frontiers Center. MSU astrophysicist Neil Cornish is a senior member at the center, and his research group will receive $403,000 under the award.
“The funding from the NSF to Dr. Cornish and his colleagues is well-deserved,” said Renee Reijo Pera, MSU’s vice-president for research and economic development. “This funding supports the establishment of the Extreme Gravity Institute at MSU which is one of our key research priorities.”
MSU professor Ron Hellings did foundational work in the area of gravitational waves some 40 years ago, according to Cornish, and the well-known term for the angles between pulsars, called the Hellings and Downs Curve, is named after him.
The NANOGrav PFC will be a virtual center to look at black holes so huge they take up to years to complete their orbits, Cornish said. It will provide a unique opportunity for astronomers and solar physicists to work together.
According to the research team, the NANOGrav PFC will address a transformational challenge in astrophysics: the detection of low-frequency gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are elusive ripples in the fabric of space-time, which theories predict should arise from extremely energetic and large-scale cosmic events, such as orbiting pairs of massive black holes found at the centers of merging galaxies; phase transitions in the very early universe; or as relics from cosmic inflation, the period just after the Big Bang when the universe we can see expanded rapidly from a minuscule volume in a tiny fraction of a second.
In Einstein’s theory of gravity, these events produce waves that distort, or ripple, the actual fabric of the cosmos as they emanate throughout space. They have such a long wavelength – significantly larger than our solar system – that we cannot build a detector large enough to observe them. Fortunately, the universe itself has created its own detection tool, millisecond pulsars – the rapidly spinning, super-dense remains of massive stars that have exploded as supernovas.
These ultra-stable stars are nature’s most precise celestial clocks, appearing to “tick” every time their beamed emissions sweep past the Earth. Gravitational waves may be detected in the small but perceptible fluctuations – a few tens of nanoseconds over five or more years – they cause in the measured arrival times at Earth of radio pulses from these millisecond pulsars.
NANOGrav was founded in 2007 and at the time consisted of 17 members in the U.S. and Canada. It has since grown to 55 scientists and students at 15 institutions. The NANOGrav PFC will provide funding for 23 senior personnel, six postdoctoral researchers, 10 graduate students, and 25 undergraduate students across 11 institutions.
Megan Paulson is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Outlaw Partners.
Upcoming Events
april, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before 9/10/2024:
more
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before
9/10/2024: Kindergarten
enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year can be completed by following the
registration process now.
Children
born on or after September 11, 2019: 4K enrollment is now open for
families that have a 4-year-old they would like to enroll in our program for
the 2023-2024 school year. Please complete the 4K Interest Form to
express your interest. Completing this form does not guarantee enrollment into
the 4K program. Enrollment is capped at twenty 4-year-olds currently
residing within Big Sky School District boundary full time and will be
determined by birth date in calendar order of those born on or after September
11, 2018. Interest form closes on May 30th.
Enrollment now is critical for fall preparations. Thank you!
Time
February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
more
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
Time
March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a
more
Event Details
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a limited palette to create different color combinations? Are you tired of carrying around 15-20 different tubes when you paint plein air? Have you ever wanted to create a certain “mood” in a painting but failed? Do you create a lot of mud? Do you struggle to achieve color harmony? All these problems are addressed in John’s workbook in clear and concise language!
Based on the bestselling “Limited Palatte, Unlimited Color” workbook written by John Pototschnik, the workshop is run by Maggie Shane and Annie McCoy, accomplished landscape (acrylic) and plein air (oil) artists,exhibitors at the Big Sky Artists’ Studio & Gallery and members of the Big Sky Artists Collective.
Each student will receive a copy of “Limited Palette, Unlimited Color” to keep and take home to continue your limited palette journey. We will show you how to use the color wheel and mix your own clean mixtures to successfully create a mood for your paintings.
Each day, we will create a different limited palette color chart and paint a version of a simple landscape using John’s directives. You will then be able to go home and paint more schemes using the book for guidance.
Workshop is open to painters (oil or acrylic) of any level although students must have some basic knowledge of the medium he or she uses. Students will be provided the book ($92 value), color wheel, value scale and canvas papers to complete the daily exercises.
Sundays, April 14, 21 and 28, 2024
Noon until 6PM.
$170.
Time
14 (Sunday) 12:00 pm - 28 (Sunday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Come join us at Cowboy Coffee as we celebrate a fun night of drinks, games, and meeting others within the community. This event is from 6-8 and all are welcome
Event Details
Come join us at Cowboy Coffee as we celebrate a fun night of drinks, games, and meeting others within the community. This event is from 6-8 and all are welcome to come, if you don’t know who to bring come alone this is a great mixer event! This is an event hosted by Big Sky OUT as we work to provide queer safe spaces throughout the community.
Time
(Sunday) 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location
Cowboy Coffee
25 Town Center Ave. Big Sky, MT 59716