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ATUC Science Day Abstracts |
Ettore Carreti (ATNF)
The Parkes Backends
A review of the backends available at the Parkes Radio Telescope will be presented, along with considerations on how they relate to the scientific priorities identified for the telescope.
Ettore Carreti (ATNF)
S-PASS: the Polarized Emission of the Southern Sky
The S-Band All Sky Polarization Survey is a project to survey the polarized diffuse emission of the entire southern sky at 2.3 GHz to study the CMB foregrounds and the Galactic magnetic field. Conducted with the Parkes telescope, the observations have been recently completed revealing a new view of the polarized sky with unprecedented details. I will briefly present the project and the first maps made with the full data set.
Simon Ellingsen (University of Tasmania)
Measuring Galactic Structure through Methanol Maser Parallax
We are using the LBA to measure accurate distances to, and proper motions of 6.7 GHz methanol masers in the third and fourth quadrants of the Galaxy. These observations will allow us to improve our knowledge of the structure of the Galaxy and complements a similar study being done in the northern hemisphere looking at 12.2 GHz methanol masers in the first and second quadrants. The northern observations suggest high-mass star formation regions on average orbit the Galaxy 15 km/s more slowly than expected from circular orbit models and measure a circular rotation speed for the Sun of 254 km/s. These results are however, derived from limited data and remain controversial. More measurements of parallax and proper motion for high-mass star forming regions in the southern sky of the Milky Way are critical to better constrain and confirm these results.
Lister Staveley-Smith (ICRAR)
A Wideband, Multibeam Parkes spectrometer
The current Parkes multibeam spectrometer has served the Observatory well for well over a decade. However, new technology can now be used to deliver wide bandwidths, higher resolution, better sensitivity, higher dump rates and greater robustness to RFI. I will discuss the science case for such an upgrade and mention the possibility of creating a unified multibeam backend to cover both spectral line and pulsar needs.
Phil Edwards (ATNF), Roopesh Ojha (USNO)
The Indispensable Role of the Long Baseline Array in the Multiwavelength Age
VLBI monitoring of extragalactic radio sources provides unique information not accessible by any other astronomical technique and the LBA is the only instrument that can deliver such data for one-third of the sky. We present results from TANAMI, a dual-frequency, bi-monthly monitoring program that is producing some of the finest, and often first, parsec-scale observations of sources detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. These LBA data are a critical component of the multiwavelength suite of observations required to understand the physics of active galactic nuclei.
Shari Breen (University of Tasmania)
Masers as evolutionary tracers of high mass star formation: MMB follow up observations
Previous studies of a number of the common maser species found in high mass star formation regions have shown that these masers may well hold the key to unlocking the relative evolutionary stage of the associated star formation region. We have carried out 12.2 GHz methanol maser follow up observations with Parkes towards 6.7 GHz methanol masers detected in the Parkes Methanol Multibeam Survey. We find strong evidence for the 12.2 GHz transition of methanol to be present at a somewhat later evolutionary stage than 6.7 GHz sources that are devoid of this transition. In addition to this, by comparing the characteristics of such a large unbiased sample of sources we uncover insights into the physical conditions associated with the different stages. Our discoveries far surpass our expectations of what could be achieved from single-dish observations.
Chris Phillips (ATNF)
Bigger, Faster, Better - What's News with the LBA.
New additions and upgrades to the LBA have significantly increased its capabilities and the science that can be achieved. In particular, these include additional long baselines that can provide greater resolution, e-VLBI to enable fast-response and ad-hoc observations, and new upgrades to the software correlator that make VLBI survey science an exciting reality.
Michael Burton (UNSW)
ALMA's missing band 0: an opportunity for Parkes and Tid
The 12mm band, the longward end of the mm-spectrum is the missing piece in ALMA, its forgotten band 0. Yet the band is rich in molecules, especially complex organic species and the important ammonia rotational transitions. These latter lines provide thermometers and densitometers of the dense cores of molecular clouds, the sites of incipient star formation. Parkes and Tid are big dishes, capable of sensitive observations in the 12mm band. Equipped with a Mopra-style wide band pass spectrometer they could be used to produce multiple molecular lines maps of the Galaxy with angular resolutions similar to those obtainable by Mopra at 3-7mm, but with much better sensitivity. Furthermore, the ATCA is then available to follow up sources of particular interest at higher angular resolution. This talk will comment on some of the projects that could be undertaken, especially if the 10% of astronomical time available on Tidbinbilla could be devoted to a cause.
Matthew Bailes (Swinburne University)
The Parkes Single Digital Backend
Shinji Horiuchi (CDSCC)
The current status, science highlights, and future plan of Tidbinbilla radio astronomy.
Hayley Bignall (Curtin University)
First science with the LBA+ASKAP+NZ: structural evolution of the GPS radio galaxy PKS 1934-638
Tzioumis, A.K., Tingay, S.J., Stansby, B., Reynolds, J.E., Phillips, C.J., Amy, S.W., Edwards, P.G., Bowen, M.A., Leach, M.R., Kesteven, M.J., Chung, Y., Stevens, J., Gulyaev, S., Natusch, T., Reynolds, C., Wayth, R.B., Bignall, H.E.*, Hotan, A., Hotan, C., Godfrey, L., Dickey, J.
VLBI observations of the archetype GHz-Peaked Spectrum radio galaxy PKS 1934-638 were undertaken on April 29, 2010, using the LBA augmented with two new telescopes: the first ASKAP antenna, and Warkworth, a new facility of the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. The addition of ASKAP and Warkworth greatly increase the angular resolution and (u,v) coverage for observations of Southern Hemisphere radio sources. This is particularly useful at relatively low frequencies, where long baselines are required to obtain high angular resolution. The inclusion of stations with large collecting area, such as Parkes, is essential to make effective use of small antennas such as Warkworth and the AuScope 12m antennas. The new observations of PKS 1934-638 are being used to examine the frequency dependent, parsec-scale source structure, and the results have implications for previous estimates of the expansion rate and age of the radio source.