{"134521":{"#nid":"134521","#data":{"type":"news","title":"NuSTAR Provides New Look at Black Holes","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen NASA launches a new telescope this Wednesday that will look at black holes in ways never seen before, Georgia Tech astrophysicist David Ballantyne will be more than a curious bystander. He helped plan the mission.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBallantyne, one of the Institute\u2019s black hole experts, is on the science team of NASA\u0027s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b3EkMlpbJaE\u0022\u003ENuSTAR\u003C\/a\u003E), which is scheduled for launch Wednesday morning. He\u2019s one of a handful of people who decided where the high-energy X-ray telescope will point while in orbit. NuSTAR\u2019s technology will allow it to image areas of the universe in never-before-seen ways. Ballantyne will be among the first scientists to see the images and examine the data when it becomes available this later this summer. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNuSTAR will provide a window to the murky world of black holes,\u201d said Ballantyne, an assistant professor in the School of Physics. \u201cThe high-energy X-ray technology will allow us to see black holes that are buried deep inside their galaxies, hidden behind thick clouds of dust and gas. The goal is to unmask these black holes, study their host galaxies, and figure out how the black holes affect galaxy formation and evolution.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBallantyne has worked on the project, which is overseen by Fiona Harrison, a professor at the California Institute of Technology, since 2007. He and his peers have plotted three areas in the sky to survey, the largest of which spans approximately five full moons. Together, the surveys will uncover about 500 black holes, some of which have never been detected by any other telescope.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESeeing more means learning more, according to Ballantyne. He compares the study of black holes with learning about mankind.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf you knew nothing about humans and looked at one person, you would quickly discover that we have two eyes, a nose and a mouth,\u201d said Ballantyne. \u201cBut the deeper knowledge \u2013 traits such as aging, cultures \u2013 is only discovered by looking at a wide range of people. The more black holes we discover and study, the more we will understand about their roles in the cosmos.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENuSTAR is the first telescope capable of focusing high-energy X-rays. It will also map supernova explosions and microflares on the surface of the sun. It is the first American high-energy telescope launched since 2008 and the last one for the foreseeable future. There are no other planned projects.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENuSTAR will lift off aboard an airplane in the South Pacific. The plane will then launch a Pegasus rocket, which will carry the telescope into orbit. Images and data should be available for Ballantyne and his colleagues about a month after liftoff. Selected images and science stories will be made available for the public throughout the mission.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENuSTAR is a Small Explorer mission led by the California Institute of Technology and managed by NASA\u0027s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in Pasadena, Calif., for NASA\u0027s Science Mission Directorate. The spacecraft was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va. Its instrument was built by a consortium including Caltech; JPL; the University of California, Berkeley; Columbia University, New York; NASA\u0027s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; the Danish Technical University in Denmark; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Calif.; and ATK Aerospace Systems, Goleta, Calif. NuSTAR will be operated by UC Berkeley, with the Italian Space Agency providing its equatorial ground station located at Malindi, Kenya. The mission\u0027s outreach program is based at Sonoma State University, Calif. NASA\u0027s Explorer Program is managed by Goddard. JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researcher on science team of new NASA telescope"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDavid Ballantyne, one of the Institute\u2019s black hole experts, is on the science team of NASA\u0027s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b3EkMlpbJaE\u0022\u003ENuSTAR\u003C\/a\u003E), which is scheduled for launch Wednesday morning. He\u2019s one of a handful of people who decided where the high-energy X-ray telescope will point while in orbit. NuSTAR\u2019s technology will allow it to image areas of the universe in never-before-seen ways.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech astrophysicist David Ballantyne is on science team of new telescope."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2012-06-11 10:31:59","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:12:22","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-06-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-06-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"134511":{"id":"134511","type":"image","title":"NuSTAR Telescope","body":null,"created":"1449178671","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:37:51","changed":"1475894763","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:03","alt":"NuSTAR Telescope","file":{"fid":"194768","name":"nustar_rendering.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nustar_rendering_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nustar_rendering_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2201885,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/nustar_rendering_0.jpg?itok=zFDUh2pO"}}},"media_ids":["134511"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cra.gatech.edu\/people\/ballantyne.html","title":"David Ballantyne"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/nustar and http:\/\/www.nustar.caltech.edu\/.","title":"NuSTAR Website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10881","name":"black holes"},{"id":"13341","name":"David Ballantyne"},{"id":"408","name":"NASA"},{"id":"4189","name":"telescope"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}