Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ is No. 1 in Florida for computer and information sciences expenditures (and top 6% nationally) and No. 2 for engineering funding (top 20% nationally). The university also ranks in the top five in Florida for research backed by several national departments, including:

• No. 2 for NASA funding in Florida — and top 9% nationally
• No. 2 for Department of Defense funding in Florida — and top 15% nationally
• No. 3 for U.S. National Science Foundation funding in Florida — and top 15% nationally
• No. 3 for Department of Energy funding in Florida — and in the top 20% nationally
• No. 5 for Department of Health and Human Services funding in Florida — and top 25% nationally

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ is also in the top 10% of expenditures in the nation for research in physics, computer and information sciences, non-science and engineering, and physical sciences. “I am very pleased at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s continued growth in research expenditures, surpassing $220M for FY22,â€� says Winston Schoenfeld, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s interim vice president for research and innovation. “This is the direct result of tireless work by our dedicated faculty, staff, and students, as well as our many partners, leading to new levels of innovation in research and discovery. Through their collective excellence, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ continues to progress as one of the leading public research universities in the nation.â€�

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ also had an impact on higher education R&D expenditures this year. At higher education institutions in both survey populations, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ finished in the top 19%, fifth in Florida. At expenditures at public institutions, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ finished in the top 20%, fifth in Florida. Overall research and development spending by academic institutions nationwide totaled $97.8 billion in FY 2022, an increase of $8 billion from FY 2021.

Over the year, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s projects were tied to a number of agencies and scientific disciplines:

Computer and Information Sciences

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks ahead of all universities in Florida

Paul Gazzillo, an assistant professor in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of Computer Science, is leading research on a three-year, nearly $1 million Defense Advance Research Projects Agency Young Faculty award that will make investigations into corporate relationships easier and quicker by creating automated tools that help investigators track complex corporate relationships.

Department of Defense

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks ahead of Florida International University (FIU), Florida State University (FSU) and the University of South Florida (USF)

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Associate Professor Kareem Ahmed, NanoScience Technology Center Assistant Professor Tania Roy, and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Materials Science and Engineering Professor Kevin Coffey were selected by the U.S. Department of Defense as part of the department’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, which supports projects that range from advancing hypersonic propulsion to improving semiconductor performance and will fund the work for the next five years.

Engineering

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks ahead of FSU, USF, FIU

Utilizing technology such as heart monitors with acoustic technology and biomechanical forces that can influence the early stages of heart disease, mechanical and aerospace engineers at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ focus their expertise on finding creative solutions to heart disease, the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks ahead of FSU and USF

Planetary scientists Kerri Donaldson Hanna and Adrienne Dove will lead a $35 million NASA science mission to land a spacecraft on the moon’s Gruithuisen Domes, a previously unexplored region. The robotic mission would launch in 2026 to study the domes’ chemical composition and how dust interacts with the spacecraft and a rover.

Physics

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks No. 2 in Florida, and ahead of Florida Atlantic University (FAU), University of West Florida (UWF), University of North Florida (UNF) nationally

Tania Roy, an assistant professor in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and NanoScience Technology Center, and Molla Manjurul Islam ’17MS, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of Physics, have developed a device for artificial intelligence that mimics the retina of the eye. The development could lead to advanced AI that can instantly recognize what it sees, like automatic descriptions of pictures taken by a camera or phone. The technology also has applications in self-driving vehicles and robotics.

Department of Energy

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks ahead of FIU, Florida A&M University (FAMU) and USF

Denisia Popolan-Vaida, an assistant professor in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of Chemistry, received a five-year, $800,000 grant from the Department of Energy to investigate elusive chemical compounds that could help mitigate the impact of combustion on the environment. The compounds, known as Criegee intermediates, form by reactions of ozone and hydrocarbons, and only within the last decade have scientists been able to directly measure them because of their low concentrations and short lifetime.

U.S. National Science Foundation

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks head of USF, FIU and FAMU

Eight Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ professors who work with interdisciplinary teams to solve tech and health problems were named NSF CAREER award recipients. Some of the research includes Assistant Professor of Material Science and Engineering YeonWoong “Ericâ€� Jung’s materials and nanotech research into pliable laptops and smartphones, as well as Assistant Professor of Material Science and Engineering and Biionix Faculty Cluster Initiative member Mehdi Razavi’s work into improving corrosion resistance to produce better magnesium-based bone implants.

Physical Sciences

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ranks No. 3 in Florida, and ahead of FAU, UWF and UNF

Using data collected from Arecibo’s Planetary Radar, planetary scientist Luisa Fernanda Zambrano-Marin researched the 2019 asteroid OK that was headed toward Earth. The asteroid was between .04 and .08 miles in diameter and was moving fast, rotating for 3 to 5 minutes. The asteroid was part of only 4.2% of the known fast-rotating asteroids.

The breakthrough was made by a collaboration of researchers, known as the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), who used large radio telescopes, like the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, to observe the timing of millisecond-period pulsars (MSPs).

The MSPs, which are rapidly spinning dead stars that sweep beams of radio waves, appear to pulse when seen from Earth and allowed the researchers to detect gravitational wave background based on subtle changes in the arrival time of their signals.

The results were published today in a series of five papers in the .

First predicted in Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, gravitational waves are “ripplesâ€� through spacetime, and carry energy and information about their sources.

The researchers refer to the gravitational wave background as a “hum� that fills the universe with gravity signals spanning periods of years to decades. Studying these signals can provide a better understanding of the early universe and of the sources of the gravitational waves, such as the movement of massive black holes merging in the center of distant galaxies.

Study co-author , a NANOGrav researcher and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ scientist with Arecibo Observatory who is involved in timing these MSPs and characterizing their noise properties, says the overlap of all the gravitational wave signals produced by supermassive black hole binaries is one of the possible sources of forming this “humâ€� that’s in the low, nanohertz frequency.

While earlier results from NANOGrav uncovered a puzzling timing signal common to all the pulsars they observed, it was too faint to reveal its origin. This 15-year data release, which includes high-precision timing of 68 MSPs monitored by the world’s largest telescopes, demonstrated that the signal is consistent with slowly undulating gravitational waves passing through our galaxy.

Before it collapsed in 2020, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico found nineteen of the MSPs that NANOGrav currently monitors.

While Arecibo was limited to seeing only about 30% of the total sky, its unparalleled sensitivity meant that for those pulsars in its vision, nothing could measure them better, the researchers say.

They say the telescope’s legacy lives on in NANOGrav’s data, as approximately one-half of gravitational wave sensitivity comes from Arecibo observations. The observatory is transitioning to a .

Support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has been critical to NANOGrav’s success by providing support for scientific work through the Physics Frontiers Center program and through access to multiple world-class radio telescopes. Future NANOGrav results will incorporate data from Canada’s CHIME telescope, added to the project in 2019.

“The NSF NANOGrav team created, in essence, a galaxy-wide detector revealing the gravitational waves that permeate our universe,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan says. “The collaboration involving research institutions across the U.S. shows that world-class scientific innovation can, should and does reach every part of our nation.â€�

Astrophysicists around the globe have been busy chasing this gravitational wave signal. Several papers released today by the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array in Australia, the Chinese Pulsar Timing Array, and the European Pulsar Timing Array/Indian Pulsar Timing Array report hints of the same signal in their data. Through the International Pulsar Timing Array consortium, regional collaborations are working together to combine their data in order to better characterize the signal and search for new types of sources.

“Our combined data will be much more powerful,� says Stephen Taylor, with Vanderbilt University who co-led the search and is the current chair of the collaboration. “We’re excited to discover what secrets they will reveal about our universe.�

The NANOGrav collaboration receives support from NSF Physics Frontiers Center award numbers 1430284 and 2020265, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, NSF AccelNet award number 2114721, a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research . The Arecibo Observatory is a facility of NSF operated under cooperative agreement (#AST-1744119) by Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ in alliance with Universidad Ana G. Méndez and Yang Enterprises Inc. The Green Bank Observatory and The National Radio Astronomy Observatory are facilities of the NSF operated under cooperative agreements by Associated Universities Inc.

The film has only played in select locations, and the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ screening will give audience members a sneak preview of the movie before its worldwide release.

The event will also feature a Q&A session with the movie’s director, Andrew Hernandez Sepulveda.

Attendance is free, and . Early registration is encouraged to ensure seat availability.

This premiere is part of , Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s annual festival showcasing creativity, innovation, and collaboration. Hosted by the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ , the two-week event features students, faculty and alumni from the College of Arts and Humanities and creativity from around the university. This year’s festival encompasses 40 events — half of which are free — and exhibitions throughout the center.

The movie tells the story of the rise, the fall and the future of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Long considered an engineering marvel, the Arecibo Observatory’s 1,000-foot-wide radio telescope was one of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world. Its legacy extended beyond science, and it became pop-culture icon thanks to its appearances in the movies Goldeneye and Contact.

Until the radio telescope’s collapse in 2020, the observatory was responsible for not only protecting our planet from near-Earth asteroids but also for unraveling some of the deepest mysteries of space. It also helped inform some of NASA’s most cutting-edge missions including DARTÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýOSIRIS-REx. Scientists are still analyzing its treasure trove of backlog data.

For director Andrew Hernandez Sepulveda, the movie is personal not only because he grew up in Puerto Rico, but also because of his family’s connection to the observatory.

“On the island, schools have the tradition to take the kids in science class on a school trip to the Arecibo Observatory to learn astronomy and explore,� Hernandez Sepulveda says. “Not only that, but for me there is an even bigger sentimental family approach. My grandfather worked mixing cement in the construction of the Arecibo Observatory 57 years ago. It was very important to tell the complete story of this amazing instrument and its legacy, from the workers on the island of Puerto Rico to the scientists all around the world who did amazing discoveries on this iconic facility.�

For Arecibo Observatory’s site director, Olga Figueroa, the documentary is important because it helps conveys Arecibo Observatory’s legacy to a larger audience.

“Arecibo has always been about dreaming and dreaming big,� she says. “We will continue to do so and are hoping to see a that will bring new and innovative opportunities for the local and international community. Also, we hope to see that in a near future, the scientific and research component can be integrated for the benefit of Puerto Rico and for the benefit of this and future generations to come.�

About Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Celebrates the Arts

Partnership, one of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s long-standing values, is brought front-and-center at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Celebrates the Arts, with many events showcasing the collaborative nature of the university. The festival features partnerships with community organizations like the Orlando Repertory Theatre and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and internal, cross-disciplinary initiatives that showcase the innovative results of infusing creativity into STEM disciplines and vice-versa. This partnership with Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Office of Research encompasses the best of both.

To learn more about Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Celebrates the Arts, please visit .

These were stories about innovative ways to build off-world settlements; prospecting for resources in understudied portions of the moon; creating new ways to power vehicles and spacecraft; and the strange behaviors of a near-Earth asteroid.

Many of the top stories also highlighted amazing innovations achieved when disciplines, like engineering and medicine, intersect. These included stories about the development of a rapid test for Lyme disease; a real-time, optics-based device for monitoring blood clots; and engineering solutions for physiological problems of the heart.

And in one of the most popular stories of the past year, mechanical and aerospace engineers used jet propulsion research techniques to answer a top question during the pandemic —do face masks work?

Rounding out the top 10 were stories focused on sustainability, including the genetic rescue of Florida panthers and developing zero-carbon emission jet engines.

Here are the Top 10 Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Research News Stories of 2022:

1. Face Masks Cut Distance Airborne Pathogens Could Travel in Half, New Study Finds
2. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Researchers Create Lunar Regolith Bricks That Could Be Used to Construct Artemis Base Camp
3. NASA Selects Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ for $35 Million Mission to the Moon’s Mysterious Gruithuisen Domes
4. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and NASA Researchers Design Charged ‘Power Suits’ for Electric Vehicles and Spacecraft
5. Monitoring Genetic Mutations Will Be Important for Florida Panther Management
6. Arecibo Observatory-led Team Discovers Large Near-Earth Asteroid Has Changing Rotation
7. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½-developed Real-time Blood Monitor Saves Doctors Critical Time During Surgery
8. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ to Lead $10M NASA Project to Develop Zero-Carbon Jet Engines
9. Rapid Lyme Disease Tests Could Soon Be Heading to A Doctor’s Office Near You
10. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Researchers Use Engineering Expertise to Solve Problems of the Heart

The annual top 10 list is based on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Today page views and coverage Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ research received by global, national, state, and local media. The stories were generated by news releases and pitches from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Office of Research and colleges.

Overall, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ research was referenced in more than 3,100 total news stories in 2022. Media outlets the stories appeared in included the New York Times, Forbes, Daily Mail, Popular Science, the Orlando Sentinel, WFTV, Fox35, WESH, Spectrum News13, WKMG, WMFE, the Orlando Business Journal, Florida Today, Florida Trend, and more.

Phaethon is just the 11th asteroid with a measured change in its rotation period, and it is the largest of them.

The discovery is an example of progress in global efforts to characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and shows planetary defense programs at work.

The researchers announced the discovery at the 54th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences.

Phaethon has an average diameter of about 5.4 kilometers, making it one of the largest asteroids that comes close enough to Earth to be classified as potentially hazardous. However, Phaethon’s orbit is known very accurately, and it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future.

Phaethon rotates once every 3.6 hours, and that rotation period is decreasing by about 4 milliseconds per year. The next-largest asteroid with a measured change in its rotation period is near-Earth asteroid 1685 Toro, with a diameter of about 3.5 kilometers.

Due to its interesting characteristics, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) selected Phaethon as the target of the upcoming DESTINY⁺ mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2024 and fly by Phaethon in 2028. The DESTINY⁺ mission’s objectives are to make observations of Phaethon and interplanetary dust and to demonstrate technologies for deep space exploration.

Phaethon has been frequently observed with optical light curves, showing variations in its brightness as it rotates, and it was observed by radar from NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. Phaethon also has been observed via stellar occultations, in which the asteroid appears to pass in front of a star, as seen from certain locations on Earth, causing the star to briefly disappear.

Arecibo planetary scientist Sean Marshall has been leading efforts to use these observational data to determine the size, shape and rotation state of Phaethon, in support of the DESTINY+ mission.

With radar data, optical light curves from 1989 through 2021, and occultations from 2019 through 2021, Marshall derived a shape model that shows Phaethon to be top-shaped – somewhat rounded with a ridge around its equator, similar to the shapes of recent spacecraft targets 101955 Bennu and 162173 Ryugu.

While trying to finalize the shape model, Marshall unexpectedly had difficulty fitting the most recent light curve observations, from late 2021.

“The predictions from the shape model did not match the data,â€� Marshall says. “The times when the model was brightest were clearly out of sync with the times when Phaethon was actually observed to be brightest. I realized this could be explained by Phaethon’s rotation period changing slightly at some time before the 2021 observations, perhaps from comet-like activity when it was near perihelion in December 2020.â€�

After investigating more carefully, Marshall says he found that the full set of data, from 1989 through 2021, could be fit by a model with constant rotational acceleration. This accelerating model provided a much better fit to the data from 2021 and also slightly improved the model’s fits to data from earlier years.

The measured acceleration is 3.7×10^-8 rad/day², which is equivalent to Phaethon’s rotation period decreasing by about 4 milliseconds per year. This change, though small, is enough to be noticeable in an extensive set of observational data spanning 32 years and thousands of rotations of Phaethon.

“This is good news for the DESTINY+ team, since a steady change means that Phaethon’s orientation at the time of the spacecraft’s flyby can be predicted accurately, so they will know which regions will be illuminated by the Sun,â€� Marshall says.

Phaethon was discovered by Simon Green and John Davies in 1983 in data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) – the first asteroid to be discovered in spacecraft data. Shortly after its discovery, Fred Whipple recognized it as the parent body of the Geminid meteor shower that is visible from Earth in mid-December.

Originally designated as 1983 TB, the asteroid was later named Phaethon, the son of the sun god Helios in Greek mythology. This name is appropriate because its orbit takes it within 21 million kilometers (13 million miles) of the Sun – less than half the perihelion distance of the planet Mercury. Observations have shown that Phaethon has an extremely blue spectrum, a rarity among asteroids.

Phaethon’s closest approach since its discovery occurred in December 2017, when it passed 10 million kilometers (6.4 million miles, or 27 lunar distances) from Earth. During five nights around that close approach, Phaethon was observed with Arecibo Observatory’s NASA-funded planetary radar system, yielding a detailed set of radar images. This was Arecibo’s first major planetary radar campaign after Hurricane Maria caused heavy damage across Puerto Rico, less than three months earlier. The Arecibo Observatory team was able to restore the telescope to operational status in time to observe Phaethon. Arecibo had the most powerful and most sensitive planetary radar system that has ever been built.

There had been an earlier hint of Phaethon’s changing rotation period in an optical light curve from 1989, which was first reported in HanuÅ¡ et al. 2016 (Astronomy & Astrophysics 592). This Phaethon model was also out of sync with that light curve observation, but there were not yet enough other data to explain this discrepancy, Marshall says.

The list of authors for this discovery includes observers from all over the world who contributed Phaethon observations from 2018 onward that were incorporated into the shape model. This list includes: Sean Marshall and Maxime Devogèle (Arecibo Observatory & Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½); Patrick Taylor (National Radio Astronomy Observatory); Christopher Magri (University of Maine at Farmington); Jin Beniyama (University of Tokyo); Tomohiko Sekiguchi (Hokkaido University of Education); Daisuke Kuroda (Kyoto University); Seitaro Urakawa (Japan Safeguard Association); Fumi Yoshida (University of Occupational and Environmental Health  Japan); Tomoko Arai (Chiba Institute of Technology); Brian Warner (Center for Solar System Studies); Petr Pravec, Hana KuÄ�áková, Kamil Hornoch, and Peter KuÅ¡nirák (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic); Josef HanuÅ¡ (Charles University); Marin Ferrais (Laboratoire D’Astrophysique de Marseille); Emmanuel Jehin (Université de Liège); Eduard Kuznetsov, Dmitrij Glamazda, Galina Kaiser, Andrej Shagabutdinov, and Yuliya Vibe (Ural Federal University); Aleksander Serebryanskiy, Maxim Krugov, and Inna Reva (Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute); Myung-Jin Kim and Dong-Heun Kim (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute).

Arecibo Observatory is a facility of the U.S. National Science Foundation. The facility is managed by the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ (Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½), under a cooperative agreement with Universidad Ana G. Méndez and Yang Enterprises, Inc. Arecibo’s planetary radar program is fully supported by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program in NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office through a grant awarded to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½.

After getting an alert, the radar scientists zoned in on the asteroid, which was coming from Earth’s blind spot — solar opposition. Zambrano-Marin and the team had 30 minutes to get as many radar readings as they could. It was traveling so fast, that’s all the time she’d have it in Arecibo’s sights. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ manages the Arecibo Observatory for the U.S. National Science Foundation under a cooperative agreement.

The asteroid made headline news because it appeared to come out of nowhere and was traveling fast.

Zambrano-Marin’s findings were published in the June 10, just a few weeks before the world observes Asteroid Day, which is June 30 and promotes global awareness to help educate the public about these potential threats.

“It was a real challenge,â€� says Zambrano-Marin, a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ planetary scientist. “No one saw it until it was practically passing by, so when we got the alert, we had very little time to act. Even so, we were able to capture a lot of valuable information.â€�

Turns out the asteroid was between .04 and .08 miles in diameter and was moving fast. It was rotating at 3 to 5 minutes. That means it is part of only 4.2 percent of the known fast rotating asteroids. This is a growing group that the researchers say need more attention.

The data indicates that the asteroid is likely a C-type, which are made up of clay and silicate rocks, or S-type, which are made up of silicate and nickel-iron. C-type asteroids are among the most common and some of the oldest in our solar system. S-type are the second most common.

Zambrano-Marin is now inspecting the data collected through Arecibo’s Planetary Radar database to continue her research. Although the observatory’s telescope collapsed in 2020, the Planetary Radar team can tap the existing data bank that spans four decades. Science operations continue in the areas of space and atmospheric sciences, and the staff is refurbishing 12-meter antennae to continue with astronomy research.

“We can use new data from other observatories and compare it to the observations we have made here over the past 40 years,� Zambrano-Marin says. “The radar data not only helps confirm information from optical observations, but it can help us identify physical and dynamical characteristics, which in turn could give us insights into appropriate deflection techniques if they were needed to protect the planet.�

There are almost 30,000 known asteroids according to and while few pose an immediate threat, there is a chance one of significant size could hit the earth and cause catastrophic damage. That’s why NASA keeps a close watch and system to detect and characterize objects once they are found. NASA and other space agencies nations have been launching missions to explore Near-Earth Asteroids to better understand what they are made of and how they move in anticipation of having to divert one heading for earth in the future.

The OSIRIS REx mission, which includes Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Pegasus Professor of Physics Humberto Campins, is headed back to Earth with a sample of asteroid Bennu, which gave scientists a few surprises. Bennu was first observed at Arecibo in 1999.  A new mission — NASA’s  — aims to demonstrate the ability to redirect an asteroid using the kinetic energy of a projectile. The spacecraft launched in November 2021 and is expected to reach its target — the Dimorphos asteroid — on September 26, 2022.

Zambrano-Marin and the rest of the team at Arecibo are working on providing the scientific community with more information about the many kinds of asteroids in the solar system to help come up with contingency plans.

This week the team at the Arecibo Observatory is holding a series of special events as part of the Asteroid Day awareness campaign. They include presentations, “ask a scientist� stations for those visiting the science museum at Arecibo, and on June 25 presentations about the DART mission in English and Spanish. The timing couldn’t be better as there are five known asteroids from the size of a car to a Boeing 747 that will be buzzing Earth before Asteroid Day, according to the The closest approach is on June 25 with an object coming within 475,000 miles of Earth. For comparison, the moon is about 239,000 miles from Earth.

Zambrano-Marin has multiple degrees including a bachelor’s degree in applied physics from the Ana G. Mendez University System and a master’s in space sciences from the International Space University in France. She has published more than 20 articles and is a frequent speaker and presenter at conference around the world. She previously worked at the Vatican Observatory and as a consultant to the Caribbean University president. In addition to working on the planetary radar group at Arecibo, Zambrano-Marin also created the Arecibo Observatory Space Academy, an 18-week research program for pre-college students in Puerto Rico.

The other team members on the study are: Sean Marshal, Maxime Devogele, Anne Virkki, and Flaviane Venditti from the Arecibo Observatory/Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½; Dylan C. Hickson formerly from Arecibo/Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and now at Center for Wave Phenomena, Colorado School of Mines; Ellen S. Howell from Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson; Patrick Taylor and Edgard Rivera-Valentin from Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston; and Jon Giorgini from Solar System Dynamics Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

An international team of astronomers confirmed this week that the asteroid shares our planet’s orbit, only the second asteroid ever discovered to do that. The revelation is important because these Earth Trojans may help explain how planets formed in the solar system.

The team’s work is published in this week’s Nature Communications journal.

Toni Santana-Ros, from the University of Alicante and the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona led the study. Maxime Devogèle, a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ research scientist, and part of the planetary radar group at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, was part of the team. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ manages the observatory for the U.S. National Science Foundation under a cooperative agreement.

Three ground-based telescopes were used to confirm the asteroid. The data also indicates the asteroid is about .62 miles-wide and is made up of rock and carbon-containing materials.

Devogèle used the Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona to obtain the images of 2020 XL₅. The Optical Ground Station in Tenerife of Spain’s Canary Islands, and the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope in Chile were also used. These telescopes were ideal because asteroids that share orbits of their host planets tend to ride near the sun. So, it gets tricky aligning telescopes at just the right time to find the asteroids. The scientists found additional confirmation by looking at data sets collected by other telescopes from 2012-2015.

These observations were conducted as part of a NASA program to observe recently discovered asteroids that could potentially pose a hazard to the Earth, Devogèle says. This asteroid doesn’t pose any danger and is expected to tag along Earth for about 4,000 years.

Trojan Asteroids

Asteroids that share an orbit with a planet are called Trojan asteroids. Trojan asteroids get “trapped� in locations in space known as Lagrange points where the gravitational tug between a planet and the sun balance one another. Thousands of Trojan asteroids are located at the Lagrange points near Jupiter. NASA’s Lucy mission, launched late 2021, will explore six of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

NASA’s massive James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, has just arrived at another Lagrange point near Earth and will begin a new era of astronomical observations starting this summer.

Although 2020 XL₅ is expected to remain in its current configuration for at least another 4,000 years, it is still only a temporary neighbor. Asteroids that are in stable orbits for longer could help scientists learn more about what the Solar System looked like in the past, Devogèle says. But it is difficult to find Earth Trojans because observing objects captured at the Lagrange points requires pointing telescopes near to the sun.

“The next steps are to continue searching for other Earth Trojan asteroids. We hope to find an object that has been in a stable Earth-sharing orbit for millions or billions of years,� Devogèle says. “They could hold a lot of secrets.�

Devogèle joined the Arecibo Observatory in 2019. He has multiple degrees including a doctorate in planetary sciences from Nice University in France and a doctorate in sciences from Liege University. He currently has observation times on the Calern Observatory in France and the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. He is a native of Belgium and has more than 24 published journal articles.

The International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA) consortium, which weaves together the work of several astrophysics collaborations worldwide, recently completed the GW search analysis using its latest official data release, known as Data Release 2 (DR2). This data set consists of precision timing data from 65 millisecond pulsars – stellar remnants which spin hundreds of times per second, sweeping narrow beams of radio waves that appear as pulses due to the spinning. The data is the result of combined independent data sets from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA), and the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array in Australia (PPTA). These are also the three founding members of the IPTA.

The international collaboration published its findings today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

NANOGrav used the 1,000-foot Arecibo Observatory telescope in Puerto Rico as one of its main instruments, observing more than 40 pulsars over 15 years until August 2020, before the collapse of the telescope. The Arecibo Observatory, a U.S. National Science Foundation facility managed by the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ through a cooperative agreement, provided the most sensitive data set of gravitational waves in the IPTA through the NANOGrav collaboration. NANOGrav recently reported potential evidence for gravitational waves in a report which includes 12.5 years of data.

“About 50% of NANOGrav’s sensitivity to GWs was provided by the Arecibo data, indicating its importance in this effort,â€� says Benetge Perera, a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ scientist at Arecibo and a member of NANOGrav and the EPTA. He further emphasized, “The IPTA DR2 is one of the best millisecond pulsar data sets currently available to search for gravitational waves.â€�

This new search includes an extensive comparison between individual data sets from the large regional scientific collaborations and the combined data set. The GW search of the IPTA DR2 has revealed strong evidence for a low-frequency signal detected by many of the pulsars in the combined data. The characteristics of this common-among-pulsars signal are in broad agreement with those expected from a GW “background� (GWB). This background is formed by many different overlapping GW signals emitted from the cosmic population of supermassive binary black holes (i.e., two supermassive black holes orbiting each other and eventually merging), analogous to background noise from the many overlapping voices in a crowded hall. This result further strengthens the gradual emergence of similar signals that have been found in the individual data sets of the participating collaborations over the past few years.

“This is a very exciting signal! Although we do not have definitive evidence yet, we may be beginning to detect a background of gravitational waves,� says Siyuan Chen, a member of the EPTA and NANOGrav, and the leader of the IPTA DR2 search and publication. Boris Goncharov from the PPTA cautions on the possible interpretations of such common signals.

“We are also looking into what else this signal could be,� Goncharov says. “For example, perhaps it could result from noise that is present in individual pulsars’ data that may have been improperly modeled in our analyses.�

To identify the GWB as the origin of the low-frequency signal, the IPTA must also detect spatial correlations between pulsars; this means that each pair of pulsars must respond in a very particular way to the GWs, depending on their separation on the sky. These signature correlations between pulsar pairs are the “smoking gun� for a GWB detection — without them, it is difficult to prove that some other process is not responsible for the signal. Intriguingly, the first indication of a GWB would be a common signal like that seen in the IPTA DR2. Whether or not this spectrally similar low-frequency signal is correlated between pulsars in accordance with the theoretical predictions for a gravitational-wave background will be resolved with further data collection, expanded arrays of monitored pulsars, and continued searches of the resulting longer and larger data sets.

Consistent signals like the one observed with the IPTA analysis have also been published in individual data sets more recent than those used in the IPTA DR2, from the three groups that are part of the project. The IPTA DR2 analysis demonstrates the power of the international data collection giving strong evidence for a GWB compared to the marginal or absent evidence from the constituent data sets. Additionally, new data from the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa and from the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA), the newest member of the IPTA, will further expand future data sets.

“The first hint of a GWB would be a signal like that seen in the IPTA DR2. Then, with more data, the signal will become more significant and will show spatial correlations, at which point we will know it is a GWB. We are very much looking forward to contributing several years of new data to the IPTA for the first time, to help achieve a GWB detection,� says Bhal Chandra Joshi, a member of the InPTA.

Given the latest published results from the individual groups who now all can clearly recover the common signal, the IPTA is optimistic for what can be achieved once these are combined into the IPTA Data Release 3. Work is already ongoing on this new data release, which at a minimum will include updated data sets from the four constituent PTAs of the IPTA. We expect the analysis of the DR3 data set to be finished within the next few years.

“If the signal we are currently seeing is the first hint of a GWB, then based on our simulations, it is possible we will have more definite measurements of the spatial correlations necessary to conclusively identify the origin of the common signal in the near future,� says Maura McLaughlin of the NANOGrav collaboration.

“Despite losing the Arecibo telescope in 2020, the data collected before its collapse will continue to be invaluable in the search for GWs and GWB,� says Perera. “We look forward to continuing to provide resources as we unravel the secrets of our universe.�

The film, The Biggest Dream, depicts how the observatory came to be, the wonder of the unique telescope and the worldwide impact it has had over the past 50 years.

“We had community volunteers come to us right after news of the collapse last year and offer their time and talent to create a film that shares Arecibo’s legacy,� says Francisco Cordova, the observatory director. “The creation of the film reflects the Puerto Rican spirit and demonstrates the magnitude of the contributions this facility and its people have made to the scientific community.�

The film’s producer and crew are all Puerto Rican and working professionals. Several have worked on Emmy award winning productions.

For the film’s producer and director, Andrew Hernandez of Luminne Productions, the movie was a labor of love.

“I have no words to explain what an honor it was to tell the story of the Arecibo Observatory,� Hernandez says. “All thanks to a FAMILY of scientists, filmmakers, and musicians who decided to mark history and tell this great story. I dedicate this film to the great dreamers who decide to believe that they can bring positive changes to this world by inspiring others.�

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The Biggest Dream will premiere at the Cine Teatro Fundación Angel Ramos on Dec. 1 in Centro Criollo de Ciencias y Tecnologia del Caribe en Caguas, Puerto Rico. The general public in Puerto Rico will be able to watch the film beginning Dec. 2. Plans are underway for distribution outside Puerto Rico after the holidays.

While emergency cleanup operations continue at the Observatory, the facility continues to contribute to discovery. The data collected from observations in the past 50 years continues to yield information that impacts current space work such as NASA’s DARTÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýOSIRIS REx missions and will likely contribute to future discoveries.

The Arecibo Observatory is a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) facility. The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ manages the facility with Universidad Ana G. Mendez and Yang Enterprises for the NSF under a cooperative agreement. The views and opinions expressed in the production do not necessarily represent the views of NSF or the U.S. government.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ manages the U.S. National Science Foundation facility under a cooperative agreement. Despite the telescope’s collapse in 2020, the data collected from Arecibo has played an invaluable role in past and ongoing space missions and could hold clues for future missions, says Flaviane Cristine Faria Venditti, head of Arecibo’s Planetary Radar Science Group.

Information from observations in November 2003 helped NASA select the target of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which expects to demonstrate the kinetic impact technique for asteroid deflection. Radar data obtained at Arecibo led to the confirmation that the asteroid 65803 Didymos has a small moon, Dimorphos, paving the path for this asteroid system to become the target for the DART mission. DART is scheduled to launch Wednesday. Scientists then used the radar data to determine the shape, size, spin and surface makeup of the asteroid its moon.

“The goal of the mission is to understand how an impact of this moon ( about 500 feet in size, close to the size that is considered a “potentially hazardous asteroid� at 450 feet or bigger) changes its orbital period, so in the future we will know if using a ‘kinetic impactor’ is a good way to divert a similar asteroid that might be on a collision course with Earth,� Venditti says. “While we know that this asteroid system poses no risk to Earth, what is learned from the mission could help us understand how, when, and where to hit a potentially dangerous asteroid.�

There are hundreds of NEAs that could potentially pose a danger to Earth. Each year several close flybys are observed, which is why NASA has a team that monitors these asteroids. Arecibo played a role in analyzing NEOs since the mid-90s, observing up to 126 objects per year. Congress made NEOs a priority when it directed NASA in 2005 to seek out and characterize at least 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters by 2020. The information provided helps NASA determine which objects pose significant risks and when and what to do to mitigate them. NASA officials can also use the information to determine which objects are the most viable for science missions.

Radar observations obtained at the Arecibo Observatory have refined the orbits of more than 850 NEAs, as well as characterized many of their shapes, sizes, spins and surfaces. It was also invaluable in confirming the existence of NEAs with their own moons (i.e., binary and triple asteroid systems).  This is not the first time Arecibo data has helped identify a NASA mission target. Data from Arecibo was also used to select asteroid Bennu, the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission which is bringing an asteroid sample to Earth. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ is part of that mission.

Arecibo data has also been used to plan for NASA’s upcoming Psyche, Janus, and JAXA’s Destiny⁺ missions.

The launch is scheduled for 1:20 a.m. ET on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.