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The enormous data rates from new-generation radio telescopes such as
ASKAP (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder) need highly
capable software running on supercomputers. In a major milestone on
the path to full deployment, the ASKAP team has now demonstrated the
integration of our processing software ASKAPsoft on its newly upgraded
supercomputer,
Setonix.
An outcome of this exercise has been a new image of the supernova
remnant (SNR), G261.9+5.5. Estimated to be more than a million years old,
and 10,000--15,000 light-years away, this object
was first
classified as a supernova remnant in our Galaxy by CSIRO’s Eric Hill in 1967,
using observations from the 64m Parkes Radio Telescope, Murriyang.
The material ejected material from the supernova explosion ploughs outwards
into the surrounding interstellar medium at supersonic speeds,
sweeping up gas and any material it encounters along the way,
compressing and heating them up in the process. Additionally, the
shockwave would also compress the interstellar magnetic fields. The
emissions we see in our radio image of G261.9+5.5 are from highly
energetic electrons trapped in these compressed fields. They bear
information about the history of the exploded star and aspects of the
surrounding interstellar medium. The structure of this remnant
revealed in the deep ASKAP radio image opens up the possibility of
studying this remnant and the physical properties (such as magnetic
fields and high-energy electron densities) of the interstellar medium
in unprecedented detail.
More
information is given in this article in The Conversation
by Wasim Raja and Pascal Elahi. (Image credit: CSIRO ASKAP Science
Data Processing/Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre)
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