Latest Arecibo Stories

AUSTIN, Texas -- Astronomers from Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have detected for the first time the molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide "“ two ingredients that build life-forming amino acids "“ in a galaxy some 250 million light years away. "Just add water!" said Robert Minchin, an Arecibo astronomer on the project, who explained that methanimine and hydrogen cyanide are two of the basic ingredients of life, because when combined with water they...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Neutron stars and black holes aren't all they've been thought to be. In fact, neutron stars can be considerably more massive than previously believed, and it is more difficult to form black holes, according to new research developed by using the Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Paulo Freire, an astronomer from the observatory, will present his research at the American Astronomical Society national meeting in Austin on Jan. 11. The Arecibo Observatory is managed...

SETI@home looking for more volunteers BERKELEY "“ The longest-running search for radio signals from alien civilizations is getting a burst of new data from an upgraded Arecibo telescope, which means the SETI@home project needs more desktop computers to help crunch the data.Since SETI@home launched eight years ago, the project based at the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory has signed up more than 5 million interested volunteers and boasts the largest community of...

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico -- At the world's largest radio telescope, astronomers searching for asteroids on a collision course with Earth are bracing for a more worldly threat: The steepest budget cuts and first layoffs since the observatory opened in 1963.Managers are warning staff and outside astronomers to prepare for a leaner future, with fewer research projects and less telescope time available as they finish a costly repainting job amid a looming cut in U.S. government funding."This...

ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO -- Fitted with its new compound eye on the heavens, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Arecibo Observatory telescope, the world's largest and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope, early tomorrow morning begins a years-long survey of distant galaxies, perhaps discovering elusive "dark galaxies" - galaxies that are devoid of stars. Astronomers at Arecibo Observatory hope the new sky survey will result in a comprehensive census of galaxies out to a...