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Our more recent newsworthy research results, group members news and awards, and all current events related to the Center — you'll find it here.

GWAC research in the news.

Stellar feedback and an airborne observatory; a team led by a WVU researcher determined a nebula to be much younger than previously believed

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In the southern sky, situated about 4,300 light years from Earth, lies RCW 120, an enormous glowing cloud of gas and dust. This cloud, known as an emission nebula, is formed of ionized gases and emits light at various wavelengths. An international team led by West Virginia University researchers studied RCW 120 to analyze the effects of stellar feedback, the process by which stars inject energy back into their environment. Their observations showed that stellar winds the region to expand rapidly, which enabled them to constrain the age of the region. These findings indicate that RCW 120 must be less than 150,000 years old, which is very young for such a nebula.

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Bandura's work on detection of fast radio Bursts detailed in "Nature"

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The CHIME telescope, located in the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Kaleden, British Columbia, is comprised of four cylindrical reflectors, 256 dual-polarized antennas for data collection and an F-Engine and X-Engine for data processing. Bandura, an assistant professor in the  Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, played a key role in developing the device’s F-Engine, which digitally processes signals from space into frequencies that can then be processed into digital maps of the Universe.

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WVU engineers recalibrate radio telescopes to illuminate dark energy

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Scientists know dark energy makes up about 70% of the universe and is responsible for the universe’s accelerating expansion. Beyond that, little about it is certain, so WVU engineer Kevin Bandura is enhancing the calibration of radio telescopes that can tell astronomers about dark energy by measuring the “neutral hydrogen” in the universe, a simple form of hydrogen with no net electric charge.

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