AO Science at AAS, AOGS

The Arecibo Observatory Open House session was held on January 7 during the 235th American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The open house was organized to provide an update on the current status of the observatory to the astronomy community and to present upcoming projects, instrumentation programs, and outreach activities. Feedback from the community on these programs is essential for the future direction of the observatory.

The session began with an overview and current status of the Arecibo Observatory from the Director of the AO, Francisco Cordova, followed by a presentation on the current and future of Arecibo science, led by Dr. Robert Minchin.

Other talks highlighted ongoing work at the observatory and using the Arecibo telescope, including the NANOGrav project, the International Pulsar Timing Array, Radio Recombination lines, Space-VLBI, the Planetary Radar Program, Solar Heliophysics research, and the discovery of magnetically aligned neutral hydrogen fibers made by the Arecibo Observatory.

The session ended with a report on the extensive education and public outreach activities hosted and supported by the Arecibo Observatory, given by William Sierra Gonalzez.

Dr. Anish Roshi, Head of Radio Science at the Arecibo Observatory and organizer of the Open House, expressed his satisfaction with the session. "I'm pleased to see the interest and enthusiasm shown by the astronomy community -- our presentation room was overflowing." He added, "We got a lot of feedback from the participants, which was extremely useful." The feedback will be incorporated into future plans and directions for the facility.

"I'm pleased to see the interest and enthusiasm shown by the astronomy community -- our presentation room was overflowing.” - Dr. Anish Roshi , Head of Radio Science at the Arecibo Observatory

We thank everyone in the community who was able to attend and support this effort. A special thanks to all of our speakers: Dr. R. Minchin, Dr. A. Virkki, Dr. S. Ransom, Dr. B. Perera, Dr. M. McLaughlin, Dr. P. K. Manoharan, Dr. S. Clark, Dr. D. A. Roshi, Dr. M. Johnson, and W. Gonazalez. You can see more details at the Arecibo Observatory Open House Schedule.