Related papers: The First Observations with the GRT at Parkes
Ten years ago humankind achieved the first direct observation of gravitational waves. I give some personal recollections of that first detection. I also present an incomplete summary of what we have learned since then, and some speculations…
Ten years of operations of the Swift satellite have allow us to collect a small sample of long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) at redshift larger than six. I will review here the present status of this research field and discuss the possible use of…
The upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope will become the largest astronomical observation facility, and is expected to introduce revolutionary changes in major fields of natural sciences. These revolutionary changes help us…
In the distant past, telescopes were known, first and foremost, for the sizes of their apertures. Advances in technology are now enabling astronomers to build extremely powerful instruments to the extent that instruments have now achieved…
The first experiment in which radio emission was detected from high energy particles is described. An array of dipoles was operated by a team of British and Irish physicists in 1964-5 at the Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory in conjunction…
The discovery of cosmic radio emission by Karl Jansky in the course of searching for the source of interference to telephone communications and the instrumental advances which followed, have led to a series of new paradigm changing…
A summary is given of the current status and plans for gravitational-wave searches at all plausible wavelengths, from the size of the observable universe to a few kilometers. The anticipated scientific payoff from these searches is…
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is by far the largest telescope of any kind ever built. FAST produced its first light in September 2016 and it is now under commissioning, with normal operation to commence in…
Next-generation radio arrays, including the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and its pathfinders, will open up new avenues for exciting transient science at radio wavelengths. Their innovative designs, comprising a large number of small…
Neutrino astronomy has entered an exciting time with the completion of the first km3-scale neutrino telescope at the South Pole (IceCube) and the successful operation of the first under-sea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean (Antares).…
The focus of this article is on recent results on ultra-high energy cosmic rays obtained with the Pierre Auger Observatory. The world's largest instrument of this type and its performance are described. The observations presented here…
The Era of the First Stars is one of the last unknown frontiers for exploration: a poorly understood billion years missing from our cosmological timeline. We have now developed several methods for finally filling in the lost billion years…
Giant radio sources (GRSs) defined to be > 0.7 Mpc are the largest single objects in the Universe and can be associated with both galaxies (GRGs) and quasars (GRQs). They are important for understanding the evolution of radio galaxies and…
NASA's Great Observatories have opened up the electromagnetic spectrum from space, providing sustained access to wavelengths not accessible from the ground. Together, Hubble, Compton, Chandra, and Spitzer have provided the scientific…
We present an overview of the scientific potential of MATISSE, the Multi Aperture mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. For this purpose we outline selected case studies from various areas, such…
Radio sources have traditionally provided convenient beacons for probing the early Universe. Hy Spinrad was among the first of the tenacious breed of observers who would attempt to obtain optical identifications and spectra of the faintest…
The scientific discoveries made by H.E.S.S. during its first year of operation encourage a reexamination of the open problems in high energy astrophysics and of the capabilities of the atmospheric Cherenkov technique, which could be…
We discuss how developments in physics often imply in the need that spacetime acquires an increasingly richer and complex structure. General Relativity was the first theory to show us the way to connect space and time with the physical…
A subjective overview of Internet resources for radio-astronomical information is presented. Basic observing techniques and their implications for the interpretation of publicly available radio data are described, followed by a discussion…
The large aperture and sensitive optical and near infrared imager spectrographs will enable an ELT system to observe some supernovae at large distances, deep into cosmological history when supernovae first began to occur.