News from campus and beyond
Physics professor David Moffett helps study signals from space
One of the receivers is hoisted 75 feet in the air for installation. Photo by Perry Hebard.
DECEMBER 19, 2011
by Vince Moore, Media Relations Director
David Moffett, Associate Professor of Physics at Furman, played a key role in the process that led to two highly specialized receivers being mounted onto radio telescopes last week at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), in Transylvania County, N.C.
Faculty and students at UNC-Asheville and Furman, as well as PARI staff, have spent six years designing and constructing the new instrument for studying signals from space. The two custom-built receivers, each mounted on PARI’s 26-meter radio telescopes, will be linked using specialized, high-speed computers to create a complex piece of equipment called an interferometer.
Moffett, who teaches physics and astronomy at Furman, collaborates with faculty from UNC-Asheville, and staff at the Pisgah Astronomical Institute. He is manager of Furman’s Timmons Planetarium, and his research interests include the study of supernova remnants, pulsars, and the promotion of astronomy through education and outreach. He also serves as the Physics Department’s pre-engineering dual-degree advisor.
Moffett joined the Furman faculty in 1999. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from North Carolina State University, and his Ph.D. from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.