by Ian Heywood (CASS)

The fourth refereed science paper to use data from the BETA telescope presents a three-epoch continuum survey in the constellation of Tucana, overlapping with the Spitzer-SPT Deep Field. Each of the three 12-hour runs, observed over the course of a week, covers 150 square degrees using the full bandwidth between 711 – 1015 MHz. The image above shows approximately one-third of the total area. The combined data mosaic contains 3,722 sources above 5-sigma, with in-band spectral index estimates for 1,037 of them. The multi-epoch approach was taken primarily to demonstrate the stability of the Phased Array Feeds (PAFs) and their electronically-formed beams, but also to serve as initial demonstrator for variability and transient searches that will benefit from ASKAP’s large field of view.

Reference: Heywood, Bannister, Marvil, et al. 2016, MNRAS, in press