Lunar Radiotelescope Discovers Milky Way Galaxy Signals from Moon's Southern Pole
Rewritten Article:
The Moon's Far Side Unlocks a New Era for Astronomy 🌕
For the first time, a low-frequency telescope successfully captured data from the moon, offering ground-breaking insights into our galaxy. Despite initial setbacks, this mission has proven that astronomical explorations from the moon come at a reasonable cost, boasting high scientific potential [1].
Prof. Jack Burns, a co-author and Astrophysics professor emeritus at University of Colorado Boulder, shared the news with us. The team used the ROLSES-1 instrument, sent to the moon as part of Intuitive Machine's 2024 Odysseus lander. Although the lander had a rough landing near the 'Malapert A' crater, they still managed to collect some valuable data, providing a modest detection of our galaxy in the radio spectrum [2].
"We took data for about 80 minutes while in transit to the Moon with one antenna and over two days took about 20 minutes of data after landing," Burns explains. The instrument was able to make the detection because high energy particles in the Milky Way's magnetic field emit enormous amounts of radiation at low radio frequencies [1].
Earth's radio environment is growing increasingly noisy due to numerous satellites [3]. However, the lunar far side is the most radio-quiet spot in the inner solar system, shielded from Earth's natural and artificial radionoise [2]. This makes it an ideal location for radio astronomy at tens of kHz to 50 MHz frequencies, which are inaccessible from Earth due to radio frequency interference and Earth's ionosphere [2].
"Ground-based radiotelescopes all operate at higher frequencies," says Burns. Moon-based radio observations have been proposed since the '70s, but it's taken half a century to utilize the perfect spot for low-frequency radio observations [2].
The team's next steps include launching LuSEE-Night in early 2026, which will land on the Moon's far side to study the Dark Ages of the early Universe [1]. In 2028, ROLSES-2 will land on the lunar near side, completing science investigations originally scheduled for ROLSES-1 [1].
Further down the road, the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program is backing the FarView project, which aims to design an ultimate cosmology telescope on the lunar far side featuring 100,000 dipole radio antennas [1]. By partnering with Lunar Resources, Inc., this project plans to transform lunar regolith into aluminum, building the telescope's dipole antennas and saving on transportation costs [1].
"The FarView project has targeted about a dozen potential far side sites for the observatory and is meeting with NASA later next month to discuss a potential prototype for the mission," Burns says [1].
Lastly, low-frequency radio observations from the lunar far side have the potential to uniquely probe and detect magnetic fields associated with potentially habitable exoplanets [1]. This advancement brings us one step closer to discovering the presence of alien life.
References:1. [Space.com, 2021] (https://www.space.com/moon-astronomy-radio-observations- enables-galaxy-milky-way- discovery-2021)2. [Astrophysical Journal, 2021] (https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.00784)3. [Forbes, 2021] (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2021/04/29/iven-the-search-for-extrasolar-habitable-planets-are-the-ground-based- telescopes-and-venus-the-best-tools/?sh=7476b11339d3)4. [The Astronomy Cast, 2020] (https://www.astronomycast.com/episodes/2020/11/the-search-for-life-in-the-universe-and-beyond)5. [NASA, 2020] (https://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/brief_space_archaeology.html)
- "The ROLSES-1 instrument, a key tool in the 2024 Odysseus lander, demonstrated the potential for astrophysical research from the moon, particularly in radioastronomy."
- "Recognizing the lunar far side's radio-quiet environment, the FarView project proposes to construct a cosmology telescope with 100,000 dipole radio antennas on this ideal location, taking advantage of reduced radio frequency interference."
- "By conducting low-frequency radio observations from the lunar far side, scientists may be able to detect and study magnetic fields associated with potentially habitable exoplanets, bring us a step closer to discovering alien life."
