| Lecturers: | Riccardo Giovanelli | 302 Space Sci | 255-6505 | Martha Haynes | 530 Space Sci | 255-0610 | TA: | Carl Ferkinhoff | 208 Space Sci | 255-5891 |
Look here for the "frequently asked questions" that correspond to the class as it is currently being taught. This list will be updated as the semester proceeds. Or see the complete list of frequently asked questions for the whole semester from past years.
Take a look at the Cornell ExtraGalactic Group EGG home page to find out what Professors Giovanelli and Haynes does when they explore the universe, particularly in running the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey. If Riccardo or Martha look extra-sleepy today, he/she may have been observing with the Arecibo telescope (remotely from here on campus) until the wee hours of the morning.
ALFALFA makes use of the Arecibo telescope; it is operated by Cornell as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center -- Perhaps you saw this telescope in the movies "Golden Eye" and in "Contact". There is some uncertainity about future funding for Arecibo because of the NSF Senior Review. Some recent articles on the subject appeared in the Cornell Daily Sun, Aug 30, '07 and the Washington Post, Sep 9, '07. The NSF just spent $5.3M to paint the Arecibo telescope structure. Would you make this kind of investment in a facility you didn't think was worthy of funding?
Read about Professor Giovanelli's project to study the astronomical qualities of a telescope site at an altitude of 18,000 feet in the high Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
Read about the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, including the GBT, the VLA, the VLBA and soon, ALMA. Yes, you saw the VLA in "Contact", too. Professor Haynes is a member of the AUI Board which oversees NRAO.
Check out some links to interesting sites elsewhere.