Landscape view of the ASKAP dishes across the horizon

2023

Immersive VR goes beyond 'being there'
In Going beyond being there to bring astronomy to the world (published today in Nature Astronomy, Vanessa Moss and co-authors Aidan Hotan, Emily Kerrison, and Ron Ekkers discuss a collaborative project showcasing how VR can enhance the sharing of science and technology at in-person conferences, including a holographic Project Scientist explaining the different layers of the ASKAP model. Read the paper in Nature Astronomy here.

Astronomers catch radio waves from supermassive black holes
An international team of astronomers using our ASKAP radio telescope have detected radio waves from 40 large galaxies in the nearby universe. Read more here: https://theconversation.com/astronomers-finally-caught-radio-waves-from-40-large-galaxies-in-the-nearby-universe-219205.

Apply now for 2024APR semester observing time
We're pleased to announce that proposals for ATNF observing time are now open for the 2024APR semester, including the new ATNF long-term projects scheme. Grab your chance to use one of the world's most advanced radio astronomy facilities. Find out more and apply here: https://www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/apply/avail.html. The ATNF Long-term projects scheme will be open for proposals once per year at the December deadline. Details on the scheme and guidelines on what should be included in the proposal are available in this section of the OPAL Users Guide.

ASKAP Update for November 2023
This month's ASKAP update reports on survey progress, the latest ASKAPsoft pipeline software release and plans to improve ASKAP’s astrometry. Successful guest science PIs from the current semester should have received an email describing the next steps. Please reach out to the operations team to discuss the details of your observing and processing parameters so we can activate these projects as soon as possible. Read more here in November's update.

RACS-mid second data release (DR2)
Out now: The second data release (DR2) of RACS-mid1 set of curated and combined images made from the 1493 tiles observed as part of RACS-mid1 at 1367.5 MHz (with 144 MHz bandwidth).

This release contains images of the tiles associated with RACS-mid1 survey convolved to a common resolution and mosaicked with neighbouring images to obtain near-uniform sensitivity images covering the sky up to declination +49 degrees. Released are the 1493 Stokes I total intensity images constructed in this manner, and the resulting source and component catalogue covering the region.

The RACS-mid catalogue features a total of 3,105,668 radio sources over the 36,200 square degrees covered by the survey. The second data release of the RACS-mid survey is described in a paper to appear in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, and available on arXiv here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.12369.

Combining RACS-low and RACS-mid gives us a first glimpse of radio 'colour. with ASKAP. Ultimately, when combined with the upcoming RACS-high, this will help improve our understanding of the physical mechanisms behind the emissions.

ASKAP Update for October 2023
This month's ASKAP update reports on survey progress, ingest cluster maintenance, the latest CASDA release and several new science data processing software features. Read more in the October 2023 update here.

Record-breaking fast radio burst offers path to weigh the Universe
Astronomers using ASKAP discovered an eight-billion-year-old burst of energy, demonstrating that we can detect and measure matter between galaxies. The discovery opens a path to using fast radio bursts to explore the expansion of the Universe and ultimately even ‘weigh’ the Universe. Read more on CSIRO.au here.

September 2023 ASKAP Update
This month we report on survey progress, maintenance activities, proposed data validation assignment changes, and polarisation calibration investigations. Read more here in the September update.

Astronomers reveal cosmic ribbon around rare galaxy
International astronomers using ASKAP reveal a galaxy wrapped in a cosmic ‘ribbon’. The research, led by Nathan Deg and Kristine Spekkens from Queen’s University Canada and co-authored by CSIRO’s Bärbel Koribalski, presents a stunning image of galaxy NGC 4632. Read more.

A galaxy with blue spiral arms is seen in the image center  in the midst of numerous foreground stars. This galaxy is surrounded by a white envelope of gas.
Image: Jayanne English (U. Manitoba), Nathan Deg (Queen's University) & WALLABY Survey, IDIA/Vislab, CSIRO/ASKAP, NAOJ/Subaru Telescope.

August 2023 ASKAP Update
This month we report on maintenance activities and some of the interesting features found during data validation efforts. Read more.

First data release from ASKAP's RACS-mid
The first data release from RACS-mid is available now, and Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia has published the associated research paper 'The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey IV: continuum imaging at 1367.5 MHz'. Read more.

Astronomers find new type of stellar object
An international team led by astronomers from ICRAR using multiple telescopes, including ASKAP has discovered a new type of stellar object that challenges our understanding of the physics of neutron stars. Read more.

July 2023 ASKAP Update
This month we report on survey operations, maintenance activities, data quality and the SMART Observatory Project designed to characterise ASKAP’s RFI environment. Read more.

Astronomers identify the coldest star yet that emits radio waves
Astronomers using our ASKAP telescope were part of the effort that detected radio emissions from a dwarf star that's cooler than a campfire. Find out more.

June 2023 ASKAP Update
This month we report on the status of ongoing survey operations, VAST scheduling, development priorities and the first RACS-mid data release. Read more.

our ASKAP radio telescopeAstronomers using ASKAP detected a ‘fast radio burst’ in a nearby galaxy that questions what we know about how the phenomena form.

ASKAP offers new insight into cosmic mystery
Astronomers using our ASKAP radio telescope made a discovery that shakes up what we know about how fast radio bursts form. Find out more

ASKAP Guest Science time now open for proposals
We're currently accepting proposals are now accepted for ASKAP Guest Science Projects: up to 150 hours per semester). Find out more

May 2023 ASKAP Update
This month, we report on the resumption of survey operations, plans for a dedicated RFI environment survey, and the upcoming call for guest science proposals. Read more.

April 2023 ASKAP Update
This month we describe plans to resume survey operations and assess the performance of Setonix as the new data processing platform. Read more.

2022

Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory
We've welcomed a new Wajarri Yamaji traditional name for our radio astronomy observatory in Mid West Western Australia. The name Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara means ‘sharing sky and stars’ in the Wajarri language.

New Wajarri Yamaji name for WA observatory site, November 2022
We've a new Wajarri Yamaji traditional name for our radio astronomy observatory in Mid West Western Australia: Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, which means ‘sharing sky and stars’ in the Wajarri language. The Wajarri name forms one part of a new dual, official name for the site: Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. Find out more

CSIRO telescope dons sunglasses to find brightest ever pulsar, May 2022
An international research team, including scientists at Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have used a new observation technique to discover the brightest extragalactic pulsar known, and it could even be the most luminous one ever found. Find out more

Astronomers reveal best image yet of mysterious ORCs in space, March 2022
Astronomy’s newest mystery objects, odd radio circles or ORCs, have been pulled into sharp focus by an international team of astronomers using the world’s most capable radio telescopes. First revealed by ASKAP, odd radio circles quickly became objects of fascination. Theories on what caused them ranged from galactic shockwaves to the throats of wormholes. Find out more

2021

Pawsey unveils fastest supercomputer in the Southern Hemisphere, September 2021
The first phase of what will be the fastest public research supercomputer in the Southern Hemisphere has been unveiled at its new home at WA’s Pawsey Centre, resplendent in artwork that reflects the skies it will help researchers to unlock. Find out more

Scientists detect never-before-seen radio waves from nearby stars and distant galaxies, August 2021
Scientists have measured thousands of nearby stars and far away galaxies that have never been identified before at radio wavelengths, while studying a galactic body that neighbours our own Milky Way galaxy – the Large Magellanic Cloud. Find out more

Next phase in star-gazing begins, August 2021
Like any new technology, we’re still learning what the ASKAP telescope does best – and how we can wield it to uncover the secrets of the Universe. Our new ASKAP telescope is getting closer to launching into full science mode. Before then it is entering one more test phase. Find out more

‘Dancing ghosts’: a new, deeper scan of the sky throws up surprises for astronomers, August 2021
We saw two ghosts dancing deep in the cosmos. We had never seen anything like it before, and we had no idea what they were. Several weeks later, we had figured out we were seeing two radio galaxies, about a billion light years away. In the centre of each one is a supermassive black hole, squirting out jets of electrons that are bent into grotesque shapes by an intergalactic wind. Find out more

Tracing the origin of fast radio bursts: CSIRO’s Dr Keith Bannister wins the Anne Green Prize, July 2021
The Anne Green Prize, named for Professor Anne Green, recognises a significant advance or accomplishment by a mid-career scientist. Dr Keith Bannister succeeded in detecting a once-off fast radio burst and, for the first time ever, identified its originating galaxy. Keith combines engineering and astronomy, developing new techniques for detecting FRBs by adapting ASKAP's antennas. Find out more

Clearest images emerge of galaxies headed for collision on intergalactic ‘highway’, June 2021
An international group of astronomers has created images with never-before-seen detail of a galaxy cluster with a black hole at its centre, travelling at high speed along an intergalactic ‘road of matter’. The findings also support existing theories of the origins and evolution of the universe. Find out more

ASKAP takes first glimps at the Galactic Plane, May 2021
Using the sensitivity of one of the SKA precursor telescopes, a group of radio astronomers led by INAF and Macquarie University explored a portion of the SCORPIO field and covered a total area of about 40 square degrees, mapping the area for the first time with ASKAP. Find out more

ASKAP's Digital Twin, March 2021
Digital twins are virtual replicas of small and large-scale physical objects, buildings, cities, regions and systems, and often incorporate and visualise large amounts of information gathered or streamed in real-time from the site by a range of technologies such as sensors and mobile mapping. We're building an ASKAP digital twin! Find out more

In the blink of an eye astronomers win prestigious American science prize, February 2021
An ASKAP science team led by CSIRO astronomer, Dr Keith Bannister has received the 2020 Newcomb Cleveland Prize, presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Each year since 1923, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize honours the most impactful research paper published in the journal Science. Find out more

Starting the year with new discoveries and a new guide to how ASKAP works, February 2021
ASKAP’s record-breaking achievements rely on over a decade of technology development, design and construction that is coming to fruition through observatory projects and pilot surveys. Today, we are pleased to announce publication of a new resource for the ASKAP community – a comprehensive technical description of the telescope and its many subsystems. Find out more

 

RACS virtual tour of the sky

RACS sky map shown with ASKAP antennas and the observatory landscape in the foreground. Individual objects of interest are marked and shown at the full resolution of the survey as inset panels. The boundaries of each tile are outlined in white.

2020

50 million light-year long gas filament discovered, confirming model of the evolution of the Universe, December 2020
New research published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics describes the discovery of the longest gas filament yet seen. At 50 million light years long, this thread of hot gas stretches between two vast clusters of galaxies that are in the process of merging together. This discovery strikingly resembles predictions from computer simulations about how structure in the Universe should appear and confirms the understanding of the way the Universe has evolved. Find out more

ASKAP detects first solar-like radio burst from Proxima Cen, indicative of coronal mass ejection activity, December 2020
New research published in The Astrophysical Journal on 9 December detailed multiwavelength observations of a powerful flare and associated radio bursts from Proxima Centauri, the nearest star and exoplanet host to the Sun. Find out more

ASKAP’s first all-sky survey opens a new era of discovery, December 2020
When ASKAP was first designed over a decade ago, its goal was to conduct large-scale surveys as quickly as possible. Today, we realised that goal with the publication of ASKAP’s first all-sky survey. With ASKAP’s wide field of view, we have mapped 3 million galaxies in 300 hours, providing astronomers with a new atlas of the universe. Find out more

Zooming in on Fast Radio Bursts, May 2020
New research published in ApJL today describes the global properties of the first sample of host galaxies of apparently non-repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) localized by ASKAP. Find out more

Astronomers detect missing 'normal' matter in the Universe using ASKAP to localise fast radio bursts, May 2020
A research paper published in the journal Nature today describes how ASKAP’s ability to localise fast radio bursts was key to finding the “missing” baryonic matter that has puzzled astronomers for decades Find out more

150 galaxies in a single view! ASKAP’s WALLABY survey science team images the Hydra cluster region, May 2020
The first set of science images and cubes for the WALLABY pilot survey have been released onto the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA), marking significant progress towards the 6th milestone on the ASKAP countdown to full survey science. These data products focus on the Hydra cluster, which is a massive system comprising hundreds of galaxies and is well-suited for detailed studies of galaxy evolution. This is the first release of high resolution 3D spectral line data cubes from an ASKAP pilot survey, representing a significant leap in the volume of publicly accessible data available from ASKAP. Find out more

The countdown to survey science with ASKAP reaches its half-way point, May 2020
Although 2020 has been a challenging year in many ways, the countdown to survey science with ASKAP continues. With additional precautions and procedures in place to protect our staff at the observatory and many of our scientists and developers working from home, data continues to flow from the telescope to supercomputers and astronomers around the world. Today we showcase a new image and highlight GASKAP, a survey science team that uses ASKAP to study our nearest galactic neighbours. Find out more

ASKAP casts first big radio ‘net’ for gravitational-wave suspects, January 2020
ASKAP has made its first large-scale follow-up of a gravitational-wave event – the merger of a neutron star and a black hole – looking for a radio source generated by the merger. Such a source would localise where the event took place. Find out more

ASKAP view of the Small Magellanic CloudThe Small Magellanic Cloud as imaged by the GASKAP team (detail).

2019

ASKAP detects FRB and reveals new science about galactic halos, September 2019
CSIRO’s Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope has detected and localised another fast radio burst (FRB) and found that it toured through the halo of an intervening galaxy on its journey to Earth. Astronomers have analysed the burst’s signal to reveal new science about galactic halos. Find out more

Counting down to the launch of ASKAP36 full survey science, Stage 4, image of a complex field", September 2019

The countdown to ASKAP 36 full survey science is a campaign designed to share the final ASKAP commissioning milestones with the astro-community and our partners. The process of bringing to life such a complex science instrument doesn't provide a single moment of victory but rather a series of steps towards full capability. CSIRO's ASKAP Commissioning Team is working through the final nine milestones and each one presents a higher level of complexity than the last. The countdown to survey science with ASKAP continues with the demonstration of its ability to image a complex field in three dimensions. We've taken spectral line observations of a region in the Eridanus constellation, which was selected by ASKAP's WALLABY (Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY) Survey Science Team. Learn more

Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) - the first large-area survey with ASKAP's full 36-dish antenna array, August 2019

CSIRO astronomers are scanning the whole accessible Southern radio sky in a survey known as Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS). The purpose of the survey is to demonstrate ASKAP's key survey capability, provide the first iteration of the Global Sky Model that will be needed to calibrate future deep ASKAP surveys; and to provide the astronomical community with a powerful new radio imaging survey of the southern sky. Learn more

ASKAP discovers repeating outbursts from nearby star, June 2019

The ASKAP Survey for Variables and Slow Transients (VAST) project team observed the flare star UV Ceti and discovered a repeating pattern in its activity, distinguishing these flares from the ones observed in our own Sun. Learn more
A paper describing this research is available here.

POSSUM Busy Week, June 2019

Polarization Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM) is one of ASKAP's planned survey projects. The team got together recently to look at some exciting ASKAP surveys. Learn More

Counting down to the launch of ASKAP 36 full survey science, Stage 3, first multi-beam image with the full ASKAP array, June 2019

The countdown to survey science with ASKAP continues today with the first public release of images and data from a field observed with all antennas and beams. As part of the ongoing campaign to prepare for large-scale surveys, the ASKAP operations team recently observed a region known as the GAMA 23 field. Learn more

Searching for magnetic fields in radio galaxy Fornax A (NGC 1316) , May 2019

One of ASKAP’s survey science teams, Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism, or POSSUM, aims to determine the origin and evolution of magnetic fields throughout the Universe using observations of polarised radio waves. This new image shows that ASKAP should indeed be an excellent telescope for the job. See Dr Craig Anderson's awesome image!

Counting down to the launch of ASKAP 36 full survey science, Stage 2, first single-beam image with the full ASKAP array, April 2019

ASKAP is a multi-beam survey instrument with a wide field of view, but when testing the basic performance of the telescope after integrating all 36 antennas, it makes sense to start simple – using a single beam to image a well-known source. As part of the countdown to full survey science, we have observed the nearby radio galaxy Fornax A, producing a spectacular image that shows ASKAP’s sensitivity to diffuse emission. See the image

ASKAP set for the next gravitational-wave event, March 2019

Researchers have now worked out the best strategy for using ASKAP to follow up gravitational-wave detections. Gravitational-wave detectors Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are expected to start their next observing run, the O3 run, in April 2019. In 2017 these detectors spotted a history-making event, GW 170817, the merger of two neutron stars. This was the first time astronomers were able to obtain both gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations of an event, linking gravitational-wave studies with the rest of astronomy. Get the full story and images here.

Counting down to the launch of ASKAP 36 full survey science, Stage 1, fringes between all antennas, February 2019

After many years of development, construction and commissioning, all 36 of ASKAP’s antennas are now fitted with Mk II phased array feeds, digital signal processors and on-dish calibration systems. On the 22nd of February 2019, we pointed all 36 antennas at an astronomical source and obtained interference fringes across the entire array - see the image and read more here

ASKAP cosmology survey data release, February 2019

We are pleased to announce that the ASKAP operations team has completed processing all viable data from the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) cosmology survey. We have uploaded data packages to the science data archive (CASDA) for 10 scheduling blocks. This includes visibility data.

The data themselves are not representative of the full capability of the telescope as they were taken before several major control system upgrades (including fringe tracking per-beam).

This is still a great milestone in getting a significant multi-pointing set of data all the way through the system from telescope to CASDA. As well as using these data for science, we will now use these data to exercise the EMU value-added pipeline and the EMU cosmology pipeline as a shakedown of the process of measuring the fundamental parameters of the Universe from ASKAP data.

We are encouraging everyone to use these observations as a test of CASDA and its interfaces. More information can be found in the included release notice. CASDA can be accessed here: https://data.csiro.au/collections/#domain/casdaObservation/search/

WALLABY hops to it! January 2019

The first two papers from the WALLABY Early Science observations, Lee-Waddell et al. 2019 and Reynolds et al. 2019, show the potential for the full WALLABY survey to make detailed studies of the commonest ‘homes’ for galaxies in the nearby universe – galaxy groups. These Early Science papers arise from a single set of ASKAP observations, led by CSIRO's Karen Lee-Waddell and were intended to test ASKAP and validate its data-reduction pipeline, as well as produce useful science. Learn more.

2018

ASKAP wins Nature Astronomy’s 2018 Cover of the Year, December 2018
Saturday 22 December was a day for some last-minute Christmas shopping. It also saw a flurry of online voting to choose Nature Astronomy’s 2018 Cover of the Year. Read more here.

ASKAP image heralds new era of polarisation studies, November 2018
Preliminary ASKAP observations of linear polarisation in the southern lobe of Centaurus A have revealed extraordinarily detailed structure, showing that ASKAP will be a powerful instrument for widefield polarisation studies. Read more here

ASKAP bags 20 FRBs, opening way to ‘weighing’ Universe, October 2018
ASKAP found its first fast radio burst (FRB) in early 2017. In Nature on 10 October 2018, a team led by Ryan Shannon (Swinburne University of Technology) reported another 19 FRBs detected by ASKAP over an eight-month period.Read more here

ASKAP unveils the secrets of the Small Magellanic Cloud, October 2018
A team led by Naomi McClure-Griffiths of The Australian National University has used ASKAP to study the mass loss and dynamics of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the Milky Way’s companion dwarf galaxies. Read more here

First 28-antenna ASKAP image approaches confusion limit, August 2018
The ASKAP team recently made 28 ASKAP antennas available as an observing array. In the course of testing the array, ASKAP commissioning team member Emil Lenc (CSIRO) has made the first image from observations with 28 ASKAP antennas. Read more here.

ASKAP Early Science Cosmology Survey (Image), June 2018
The culmination of the early science program on (ASKAP) Array Release 2 is a large-area survey dubbed the cosmology survey, as it is intended to test the idea that key parameters of our cosmological models (our understanding of how the universe formed and expanded to the state we find it in today) can be improved by studying the statistical properties of large numbers of galaxies. Read more here

HIPASS legacy data-set now available through ASKAP’s new archive facility, May 2018
The CASDA team are pleased to announce that HIPASS cubes are now available in the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA). CASDA is a collaboration between CASS, CSIRO IM&T, and the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, to build a data archive for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). It will provide long term storage for Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) data products, and the hardware and software facilities that enable astronomers to access the data. CASDA will store about 5 PB per year from ASKAP and serve that to astronomers around the world using both virtual observatory (VO) and web-based portal services. Read more

Celebrating National Reconciliation Week, May 2018
This year during National Reconciliation Week all Australians are being invited to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories. Here at CSIRO’s Australian Telescope National Facility (ATNF) we have been working closely with the Wajarri people as part of establishing the site for our new Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in outback Western Australia. Here we share a snapshot of Wajarri history through the story of their struggle to access education during the 1900’s. We also celebrate the Wajarri native title determination of 2017, fill you in on the MRO Indigenous Land Use Agreement and take a look at how CSIRO works with the Wajarri today, to ensure every visitor takes away not only a thing or two about radio astronomy but some knowledge of the history and culture of the ancient land on which we operate our Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope and related facilities read more

Commissioning News, May 2018
The construction of ASKAP is nearing completion with 24 antennas having been handed over for commissioning and integration into the array. The remaining antennas await installation of their digital processing systems, scheduled to occur mid-2018. Delivery of ASKAP's capabilities to the astronomical community will happen in staged "array releases" of increasing scope. Read more

Pawsey funding announcement is good news for ASKAP, April 2018
Pawsey Supercomputing Centre will receive $70 million to procure a replacement for its flagship supercomputer, Magnus, as well as the real-time supercomputer, Galaxy. Both systems, are close to the end of their operational lives. Magnus, a Cray XC40, is considered to be one of the most advanced supercomputers in the southern hemisphere. Galaxy is dedicated to the operational requirements of the SKA pathfinder telescopes, ASKAP and MWA. Read more

WALLABY Survey Science Team (SST) - ASKAP commissioning odyssey, January 2018
The past 17 months of working with ASKAP has been quite the journey! WALLABY SST has taken 700 hours of Early Science data, over four fields and in this article Karen Lee-Waddell tells her story of the adventures in taking and processing this new and exciting data read more

2017

The Small Magellanic Cloud in one shot with ASKAP, December 2017
The recent release of an image of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) made with data taken from 16 of ASKAP's 36 antennas highlights ASKAP’s great speed and resolution. Read more and see the stunning image here

Astronomical excursion for Pia Wajarri School, November 2017
As part of the Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) between the Australian Government and the traditional owners of the Murchison Radio astronomy Observatory (MRO) site, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science staff members Rob Hollow, Dr Shi Dai and Dr Zoe Taylor travelled to the remote Pia Wajarri Remote Community School and took the students and teachers on tour of ASKAP. Shi, a young astronomer, talked to the students about his career in astronomy and about how stars and galaxies form in the Universe. Zoe talked about why she’s interested in software engineering and inspired the students talking about her work on the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope. Zoe also introduced coding to the students with Spheros (the programmable robot). Zoe and Rob used the Sphero robots to demonstrate coding and demonstarted how to write simple programs. The fun really "took-off" when Rob set up the alka-seltzer water rockets and a challenge to see whose could fly theirs the furthest. At the MRO, the students and teachers toured ASKAP and learnt about how the radio dish antennas operate. At the control building, CSIRO’s James Hannah was working on electronics boards and gave the young locals a close-up look at these high-tech components. They headed back to Pia via the MWA and the AAVS1 test array, where they heard all about the world’s biggest telescope, the Square Kilometre Array!

CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) completes mechanical construction of ASKAP's 36 dish array in WA, November 2017
On Tuesday 21 November, our 36th phased array feed (PAF) receiver was installed on AK #29, marking the completion of the installation of all receivers for ASKAP-36! The innovative PAF receivers on each of ASKAP's 36 antennas enable a large simultaneous field of view at 1.4 GHz. Sixteen of the antennas also have complete digital back-end systems, enabling the delivering of exciting early science results. We expect the full 36-dish array to come online progressively throughout 2018.

Powering up in the outback, September 2017
Working closely with a small Perth-based company Energy Made Clean, or EMC, our engineers and scientists have built the world’s first solar storage system to run a remote radio astronomy site. They built a battery with a shield to ensure it doesn’t interfere with our radio telescopes, allowing us to store the power captured from our 5280 solar panels during the day and use it into the night, switching seamlessly between solar and diesel power as a backup. Read more

ASKAP processing capabilities scaled up, August 2017
To address the growing needs of ASKAP and other telescopes hosted at the Murchison Radio Observatory, Pawsey Supercomputing Centre has commissioned a new storage system specifically for astronomical use. Read more

Ernie Dingo visits our outback astronomy observatory – in his beloved backyard, August 2017
We searched far and wide for a place in Australia to build a world class radio astronomy observatory. The location had to be remote and far from man-made radio interference, to ensure quietness for these instruments to detect radio waves travelling from billions of light years away. It also needed to be somewhere relatively accessible for construction and observatory management. We found the perfect spot in the Murchison area of Western Australia, 700 kilometres northeast of Perth and in traditional Wajarri Yamatji country. It’s now home to our new Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array telescope (MWA) led by Curtin University. It’s also a future site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – the world’s largest and most ambitious international radio astronomy project ever realised. Wajarri Yamatji Elder and Australian TV personality Ernie Dingo was passing by recently, so we invited him in for a tour and a chat about the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), situated on his ancestral and beloved homeland. Read more

ASKAP Early Science Data Release, July 2017
CSIRO has made the first public release of ASKAP early science data via CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive. We welcome opportunities to collaborate with and receive feedback from the science community. Enquiries can be directed to the ASKAP project scientist atnf-askap-ps@csiro.au or the science team lead investigators. Read more

New Project Scientist for ASKAP, July 2017
ASKAP’s new Project Scientist, Dr Aidan Hotan, talks about his involvement in ASAKP and what the path to full science operations looks like to him. Read more

ASKAP Fast Radio Burst

ASKAP bursts onto the scene, May 2017
CSIRO's Australian Square Kilomtere Array Pathfinder radio telescope (ASKAP) has found its first ‘fast radio burst’ from space after less than four days of searching. The discovery came so quickly that the telescope looks set to become a world champion in this fiercely competitive area of astronomy. Read more

2016

Australian researchers develop ultra-accurate SKA synchronisation tech, July 2016
Astronomical Verification trials of a critical SKA sub-system developed by Australian researchers have shown the frequency synchronisation technology to perform between 10 and 100 times better than the requirement for the SKA telescope. Read more

ASKAP2016: "the future is now!", June 2016
The ASKAP2016 conference has brought together the user community to plan key aspects of the ASKAP Early Science program, share cutting-edge results and discuss future strategies for observing and data sharing. Read more

Bird of paradise constellation sings a sweet song for ASKAP, April 2016
The first ever 36-beam image has been produced during phased array feed (PAF) commissioning activities for CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope. Read more

Maximising science impact of the SKA in Australia, April 2016
The second annual OzSKA meeting was held to discuss developments in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – with a focus not only on astronomy, but also technological development and the evolution of the SKA Organisation itself. Read more

Parkes telescope granted status of 'SKA pathfinder', April 2016
CSIRO's iconic Parkes radio telescope has been granted the status of 'SKA pathfinder' by the Square Kilometre Array Organisation, on the basis of its role in testing innovation new receiver systems for radio astronomy. Read more

Getting busy with real data, March 2016
In preparation for the start of the ASKAP Early Science Program, the first ASKAP Community Busy Week was held this week at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA). Read more

Egg-actly what you weren't expecting, March 2016
How one ASKAP Survey Science Project is using cloud computing for ‘machine learning’, to test novel techniques for data mining and source finding. Read more

Quiet up there, March 2016
A recent experiment by the ASKAP team has shown how astronomers can ‘disappear’ RFI from their observations using PAF receivers, a technique not possible with single-pixed feeds. Read more

LIGO makes waves, Australian telescopes follow up, March 2016
How ASKAP played a part in LIGO's hunt for gravitational waves, and showcased capabilities offered by the transient survey projects planned for the future. Read more

Bye bye, BETA, February 2016
A bittersweet milestone for ASKAP, as the Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA) is decommissioned. Read more

EU funding to support SKA infrastructure study, February 2016
The SKA Infrastructure Consortium received an important boost this week thanks to a grant under the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Read more

Bonn-bound PAF pops by Parkes, February 2016
ASKAP’s awarding winning receiver technology is about to branch out beyond Western Australia, heading first to Parkes and then to Germany. Read more

A bright start to the year for ASKAP's renewable energy, January 2016
The solar power station for CSIRO’s ASKAP telescope has been powering ahead at the MRO in Western Australia throughout January. Read more

2015

2015: An ASKAP year to remember, December 2015
It is a time to reflect on the major achievements of the ASKAP project in 2015, thanks to the project team staff across Australia, those on the ground at the MRO, and also our international collaborators. Read more

New PAFs 'on the verge' of surpassing BETA, December 2015
Commissioning activities with ASKAP’s newest receivers have produced an image from ‘the most beams yet’, with early data indicating the performance of the Mk II systems may be on the verge of surpassing the BETA telescope. Read more

Supercomputing resources secured for ASKAP Early Science, December 2015
CSIRO has teamed up with leading scientists from the ASKAP early science projects to secure 600,000 core hours of processing time on the largest research supercomputer in the Southern Hemisphere. Read more

'Exotic pulsar' theories confirmed with BETA, December 2015
The latest paper to be published from ASKAP has used commissioning data to confirm theoretical predictions of an ‘exotic’ intermittent pulsar almost 6,000 light years away. Read more

ASKAP News Archive

For older news items (2009-2015), visit the ASKAP News Archive page.

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