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It was not an easy trip. The nearly 3-mile road to the observatory is a rugged one-lane track. It’s shift-into-first-gear steep, with drop-offs on one side and rocks and forest on the other, punctuated by sharp switchbacks. The trip took about three hours with Allen Arnst, a field technician for telescope manufacturer Mtex Antenna Technology USA, driving the radio telescope dish slowly and delicately on board a very large forklift.

MTEX representative Philip Bolton, left, and Brad Johnson, an associate professor of astronomy, watch as Allen Arnst negotiates a turn on Fan Mountain Road. (Photo by Matt Kelly, University Communications)

Brad Johnson, an associate professor of astronomy; Mallory Helfenbein, a post-baccalaureate researcher in the Astronomy Department; and Dillion Bass, a first-year astronomy graduate student, walked alongside, using hand signals to direct Arnst past leaning trees, soft spots in the road, dangling vines and other hazards.

Once operational, the telescope, funded by a $249,850 grant from the Jefferson Trust, will begin its search for the invisible dark matter that astronomers believe links the universe together and could be detected using strong magnetic fields.

“The universe is made up of particles,” Johnson said. “We call one of these particles ‘dark matter,’ and it’s intentionally provocative. We don’t know what it is, but it acts gravitationally, influencing the universe in a detectable way. But it doesn’t interact with light in the same way that the protons, neutrons and electrons do. We can’t see dark matter with our eyes or with light, but we can see it gravitationally.”

Facilities Management employees watch as a crane operator from Staunton Tree Service lifts the wooden crate with the radio telescope from the truck. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

Johnson said particle physicists have been looking for axions, which have properties similar to those of dark matter.

While axions are invisible, Johnson said, a strong magnetic field can cause them to decay into microwaves. Johnson wants to hunt them in the wild, using the natural magnetic fields generated by neutron stars.

“Neutron stars are high-mass stars, and when they die, they explode,” Johnson said. “You’re left with this ball of neutrons and some plasma around it, and that creates a gigantic magnetic field. We know these giant magnets are there, and we think the axions are there.”

A radio telescope, when pointed at populations of neutron stars, could detect axion-decay signals.

Mallory Helfenbein, left, a researcher in the Astronomy Department, and astronomy graduate student Dillon Bass prepare the radio telescope dish for its trip to Fan Mountain. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“We know where some neutron stars are, so we can observe those for sure. We can also look in places where they should be, given our understanding of star formation,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of like fishing. You can’t see all of the fish, but you can guess where they are if you know the lake well enough.”