CSIRO Space and Astronomy Radio school
Space & Astronomy runs Radio Astronomy Schools, with the aim to provide knowledge and hands-on experience of radio astronomy to people new to the field, including PhD students and post-doctoral researchers. The intended audience for these schools includes postgraduate students and other interested researchers as well as members of ATNF staff in related roles. No prior experience with radio astronomy is required. The format of the school is typically a mix of lectures and practical hands-on sessions, with material presented by both radio astronomers and engineers. Lectures cover both single dish telescopes and interferometers but the emphasis of the school has been more on interferometry.
Schools have been held on average every two years since 1989, mostly on-site at the ATNF's Paul Wild Observatory, home to the Australia Telescope Compact Array, near Narrabri, NSW. This was the location of the most recent school, the 2023 CSIRO Space and Astronomy Radio School, held in September 2023 at Narrabri. This year's will be held in Geraldton WA from 30 September to 4 October 2024. This year's School will focus on the new capabilities provided by the SKA precursor telescopes in Western Australia, namely ASKAP and the MWA, as well as opportunities for engagement with the SKA.
In addition to teaching the fundamentals of radio interferometry, the School will introduce participants to hands-on reduction of data from ASKAP and MWA. With ASKAP and MWA in full science operations, the School also intends to facilitate more cross-use of the two facilities and to expose participants to tools and techniques likely to be useful for analysis of data from the future Square Kilometre Array. Participants will also be introduced to the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, part of which is dedicated to the reduction and analysis of radio astronomy data.
The 2024 Radio School is aimed at PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in astronomy. The format of the School will be similar to previous ATNF Radio Schools, with a mix of lectures and practical sessions. No prior experience with radio interferometry is required.
There will be a registration fee that will cover lunches, tea/coffee, and the conference dinner. There may also be the opportunity for a day trip to the Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, the site of ASKAP, MWA, and currently under construction, the low-frequency component of the SKA.
Registration will open soon, so save the date.
If you have any questions about the Radio School, please contact Amanda Gray at amanda.gray@csiro.au.