Pocahontas Times
  • News Sections
    • Local
    • Sports
    • A&E
  • Obituaries
  • Community
  • Magistrate News
    • Circuit Court News
  • Compass
  • Spiritual
    • Parabola
    • Transcendental Meditation
    • Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
    • Southern Baptist
  • etimes
  • Classifieds
  • National News
  • State News
  • Pocahontas County Veterans
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Login
Subscribe For $2.50/Month
No Result
View All Result
Pocahontas Times
  • News Sections
    • Local
    • Sports
    • A&E
  • Obituaries
  • Community
  • Magistrate News
    • Circuit Court News
  • Compass
  • Spiritual
    • Parabola
    • Transcendental Meditation
    • Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
    • Southern Baptist
  • etimes
  • Classifieds
No Result
View All Result
Pocahontas Times
No Result
View All Result
  • National News
  • WV State News
  • VA State News
  • Contact Us
Home News Headline News

‘Astronomy is a gateway science’ – GBO’s newest scientist brings the stars to you

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Newest member of the GBO Scientific team Will Armentrout, wearing the white hard hat, with family, from left: Bill, Jana and Mary Jane, on the Green Bank Telescope.

The Green Bank Observatory welcomes a new member to its scientific team, Dr. Will Armentrout. 

Will has been in residence for over a year as a post doc, giving him the chance to embed himself in the heart of Green Bank’s tight knit community, living on site in the historic residence – the “Nut Bin.”

Will seems to have been destined for a career in astronomy. Although he was named after his father, William, he is called “Will” after Will Robinson from Lost in Space.

A native of Appalachia and the Rust Belt, he and his siblings are collaborating to restore a century-old property in their hometown of Ford City, Pennsylvania, located 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Will received his Bachelor of Science in Physics from Westminster College (PA) and both a master’s and PhD in Physics from West Virginia University.

We all look up at the night sky and marvel at the glittering stars that we see – but how did they come to be? This is what Will seeks to answer in his research. He focuses specifically on high- mass star formation regions across our Milky Way Galaxy, to better understand how these large stars are born and what they can tell us about the structure and chemistry of the Galaxy. These stars can be 10 to 100 times larger than our Sun and tens of thousands of times brighter. Will’s work includes the most comprehensive observations of the most distant known molecular spiral arm in the Galaxy, the Outer Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm, about 70,000 light years away from the Earth.

The Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope, is a fundamental tool for Will’s research. He collaborates frequently with other scientists and academics around the world, and travels to present at workshops and conferences all over the world, including Harvard in Massachusetts, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Helsinki,Finland, in recent months. He enjoys representing the Observatory, and is passionate about sharing its resources with the public and scientists alike, through outreach and social media. 

“Astronomy is a gateway science,” Will said. “It’s so accessible, you can just look up at the sky and wonder. It might be the first thing that gets someone interested in science. Even if they don’t become an astronomer, they might pursue that curiosity and become an engineer or a physicist or a biologist.

“There’s so much it can introduce you to.” 

Learn more about the Green Bank Observatory’s scientific research and career opportunities. 

Follow Will on Twitter.

The Green Bank Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation and is operated by Associated Universities, Inc.

Previous Post

PMH works to ensure healthcare and financial stability

Next Post

Bread ~ on a ‘knead’ to know basis – Olive bread ~ work with what you’ve got

Join Our Newsletter

  • News Sections
  • Obituaries
  • Community
  • Magistrate News
  • Compass
  • Spiritual
  • etimes
  • Classifieds

© 2021 Mountain Media, LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Fifty Years Ago in The Pocahontas Times
  • 75 Years Ago
  • 100 Years Ago
  • 125-Years-Ago
  • Pocahontas County Bicentennial ~ 1821 – 2021
  • A&E
  • Community
  • Compass
  • Education
  • etimes
  • Legal Notices
  • Obituaries
  • Columns
  • Preserving Pocahontas
  • Sports
  • Contact Us
  • My account
  • Subscribe to The Pocahontas Times

© 2021 Mountain Media, LLC

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login