Close up of our phased array feed receiver on our ASKAP radio telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, our Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Country. Credit: Red Empire Media
ASKAP, CSIRO’s new radio telescope, is located at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
ASKAP Technical Description
A detailed description of the ASKAP telescope as built is given in the paper Australian square kilometre array pathfinder: I. system description (Hotan et al. 2021).
A description of the 6-antenna BETA array that preceded the full ASKAP array is described in The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder: System architecture and specifications of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array (Hotan et al. 2014).
Other technical publications describing ASKAP may be found here:
ASKAP engineering publications .
Simulations
The ASKAP Computing team is provided a series of simulated ASKAP observations for use by members of the ASKAP Science Survey Projects. These simulations provided an opportunity for science teams to become acquainted with the scale of ASKAP data, to examine the quality of the ASKAP processing pipeline, and to test post-imaging analysis techniques such as source finding and stacking.
For details of the initial simulations contact Matthew [at] Whiting@csiro.au.
ASKAP Timeline
The table below outlines the key stages of construction of the telescope and its supporting infrastructure.
| Activity | Date |
| Parkes Test-bed commissioned | June 2008 |
| Construction of all 36 ASKAP antennas complete | June 2012 |
| Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) support infrastructure complete Includes an 800 sq metre ASKAP Control Building, along with water, cooling, power systems and waste management Also includes roads, airstrip, power and optical-fibre distribution, and network connectivity to the Perth-based iVEC Pawsey Supercomputer Centre for science processing | July 2012 |
| Start of system verification testing Includes demonstration of signal processing (early ASKAP commissioning) | August 2012 |
| MRO Support Facility complete 820 sq metre facility based in Geraldton for ASKAP support staff | February 2013 |
| ASKAP BETA (Boolardy Engineering Test Array) Comprises the full MRO infrastructure, with a 6-antenna ASKAP system utilising phased array feed (PAF) receivers This scaled down telescope will allow demonstration and validation of the telescope design within the radio observatory Along with exciting technology, ASKAP BETA will begin producing some science outcomes | July 2013 |
| ASKAP 12 PAF stage Complete 36 antenna array A minimum of 12 antennas equipped with PAF receivers, 6 of which are new generation Mark II PAFs Meaningful astronomical science is possible at this stage | March 2014 |
| Continued PAF roll-out ASKAP fitted with an additional 6 Mark II PAFs bringing the total number of antennas with PAFs to 18 ASKAP becomes a genuinely powerful telescope in its own right, facilitating world-class astronomical research | mid-2014 |
| ASKAP “Early Science” commences Starting with 12, and progressively more, antennas, and an observing bandwidth of 48 MHz | October 2016 |
| 36th Mk II PAF installed Installation of all hardware for all antennas follows the following year | November 2017 |
| RACS-I observing begins Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) first low-band (888 MHz) survey $70m funding upgrade for Pawsey announced the same month | April 2019 |
| Pilot Surveys Phase I observations begin | August 2019 |
| Pilot Surveys Phase II observations begin | July 2021 |
| Full Surveys commence with one-month trial | November 2022 |
Further Information
- Read the latest ASKAP Update newsletter