Arecibo Observatory

Scientific User Portal

NSF News

The National Science Foundation has awarded a team of scientists $5.8 million to design and mount a supersensitive antenna at the focal point of the Arecibo Observatory’s 1,000-foot-diameter dish, which is managed by the University of Central Florida. The antenna, called a phased-array feed, will increase the telescope’s observation capabilities 500 percent. Read More

RECENT POSTS

Planetary Science Observ-a-thon reveals comet nucleus, holiday asteroid, and more!

Team radar from across several institutions were busy this month observing many targets of interest, including Comet 46P/Wirtanen, near-Earth asteroid 2003 SD220, and 7 other NEAs. The cross-institution teams used the NASA-funded Arecibo S-band planetary radar to study these objects in order to measure their astrometry, size, and characterize their surfaces. Read More


Our #TeamRadar on duty

Planetary December 14, 2018

Second day observing near-Earth asteroid 2003 NW1 and we are being able to get radar images for the first time for this asteroid. Third day observing comet 46P/Wirtanen. We'll be observing it at Arecibo every day until December 18th. It's closest approach to Earth at ~30 lunar distances will be on December 16th, and the data will only keep getting better each day.


Observatories Team Up to Reveal Rare Double Asteroid   July 12, 2018

Arecibo observed the near-Earth asteroid (505657) 2014 SR339   February 9, 2018

First Asteroid Detection since Hurricane Maria   December 12, 2017

Radar Observations and Shape Model of Asteroid 16 Psyche   Jul 21, 2017

Arecibo refines our knowledge of a potentially hazardous asteroid  Apr 17, 2017

Arecibo Observatory captures revealing images of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova   Feb 12, 2017

Discovery Announcement of Binary System (163693) Atira   Jan 20-23, 2017

Asteroids by the AO Planetary Radar Group

Flea on Pluto? Arecibo Observatory Helps Provide Unprecedented View of Pulsar

Pulsar PSR B1957+20

Pulsar Astronomy May 25, 2018:
Imagine being able to see a flea on the surface of Pluto. That’s a good way to describe what the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico helped a group of Canadian researchers do. Read More


Pulsar Watchers Close In On Galaxy Merger History

NASA Merging Galaxies
Pulsar Astronomy Feb 28, 2018

For the past twelve years, a group of astronomers have been watching the sky carefully, timing pulses of radio waves being emitted by rapidly spinning stars called pulsars, first discovered 50 years ago. These astronomers are interested in understanding pulsars, but their true goal is much more profound; the detection of a new kind of gravitational waves. With a new, more sophisticated analysis, they are much closer than ever before. Read More


Astronomers peer into the lair of a mysterious source of cosmic radio bursts

Pulsar Astronomy Jan 10, 2018

Using the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, a team from Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and other institutions today announced today at the American Astronomical Society’s winterAAS meeting that mysterious bursts of radio emission, called Fast Radio Bursts (FRB), may be coming from near a giant black hole. Read More

Why are Quasars so Bright?  JULY 18, 2017

The Mystery of Part Time Pulsars  JULY 18, 2017

Gaia Weighs in on the Pleiades Distance Controversy  Jan 27, 2017

Arecibo Puts Limits on Gravitational Wave Models   Jan 20, 2017

Arecibo Call for Ionospheric Modification (HF facility)

Space & Atmospheric Dec 11, 2017

The Arecibo Observatory invites you to submit proposals for the use of the HF facility during 2018. HF experiments at Arecibo are scheduled by demand in periods of 5-7 days around new moon. Proposals should specify the associated diagnostics required: the incoherent scatter radar (ISR), active and passive optical instruments and others. Read More

Mid-latitude Radio-Frequency Auroras   Jul 21, 2017

Nighttime plasma lines are measured at Arecibo (Vierinen et al. [2017]).  Jun 15, 2017

The sensitivity of the Arecibo Observatory made possible to observe Gyrolines 

Creating space plasma from the ground  Jan 14, 2017

CAVEAT: The Arecibo Observatory is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.