Government Shutdown Knocks U.S. Radio Telescopes Offline

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory suspended its United States operations Friday after the government shutdown forced the large astronomy organization to temporarily close its doors.

The NRAO has closed three telescopes: the Very Large Array, the Very Long Baseline Array and the Green Bank Telescope. The organization is also responsible for helping to run the giant ALMA radio telescope (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) in Chile, but that facility can still remain open for three to four weeks, ScienceInsider reports.

While the shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1, NRAO facilities remained open for three more days thanks to extra funds from the 2013 fiscal year, according to ScienceInsider. Read more...