UNC receives grant from National Science Foundation for telescopes

UNC students in the physics and astronomy departments are going global without even leaving the country — or their classrooms.

With a new $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the University is now capable of building a “dream network” of six new robotic telescopes located on four different continents.

The new telescopes — several located outside the western hemisphere — will allow students and residents of North Carolina to view the night skies from around the globe during the day.

The technology will also be able to operate independently of humans, and administrators and researchers said it represents the University’s growing global presence.

“No one has ever tried to do a network of telescopes at this scale, and this will give UNC a unique resource with tons of new partners,” said Daniel Reichart, an associate professor of physics and astronomy who has been the leader behind the project and principal director of the grant.

Currently, students in the astronomy and physics departments are capable of viewing the night skies on their laptops during labs courtesy of a telescope in Chile.

But the new telescopes, located in such diverse locations as West Virginia and Australia and of a larger scale than most pieces of equipment, will allow students to receive more immediate results in their lab studies and view a more diverse set of night skies.

This new project funding comes as UNC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy has seen a dramatic increase in grants.

Professors in the department received $10.2 million in grants for the 2009-10 school year, compared to $5.2 million for the previous year, said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development.

Waldrop attributed the fundraising efforts to strong faculty members, who apply for grants based on their research.

Reichart said he is excited to experiment with the new technology and use it for research.

“I am looking forward to observing gamma ray bursts and dying stars, which lead to the formation of black holes,” he said.

Justin Moore, a second-year graduate student in the physics and astronomy department, said he is also thrilled for future studying with the new telescope network.

“I’m not sure how anyone could not be excited about the new telescopes,” Moore said. “This project is exactly what I would expect out of a budding astrophysics graduate school department like UNC-Chapel Hill.”

Christopher Clemens, another professor in the department, said the new telescopes would allow students to continue using state-of-the-art facilities under the direction of better-equipped instructors.

But beyond the scientific benefits of the new technology, professors said it will prove beneficial for all residents of the state, including children in elementary school visiting the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Moore said he hopes to increase the department’s scope by reaching out to thousand of non-University students in the state and arming them with tools to discover the inner workings of science.

 “One of our ultimate goals is to do to the next generation what the Hubble Space Telescope did to my generation and older,” Moore said. “That is, provide such astonishing results, data and imagery to inspire kids to seek future careers in the sciences and hopefully even astronomy or astrophysics.”



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