The ASKAP Update
for February is now available, and includes
the latest plans for technical test
observations and progress towards some of the key development goals
required for Pilot Surveys Phase II.
The image above shows the status of observations for the
second pass of the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS), this time in the
mid-frequency band, 1152 to 1440 MHz. The survey is 96% complete,
with tiles
surrounding the position of the Sun over the last few weeks and tiles
at a similar hour angle to the calibration source all that remain
unobserved. Data
processing will begin after the next release of ASKAPsoft, which
contains several optimisations that should address rate limiting steps
from the first processing run. The mid-band survey
needed about 50% more tiles to cover the same area of sky as the
low-band survey, due to the reduced size of the beam footprint.
(Image credit: Vanessa Moss)
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