BIGCAT update – December 2025

BIGCAT now offers 4 x 2 GHz of bandwidth (in all bands except the 16cm band).

The ATCA observing schedule has now been released through to the end of the 2025OCT semester.

Advice on choosing observing frequencies is now available.

BIGCAT update – November 2025

The second phase of the BIGCAT installation and commissioning has now commenced! From 18 November, the ATCA will be offline as we commence the final stage of BIGCAT installation and commissioning – upgrading the RF modules to provide the full 8 GHz bandwidth. We anticipate that installation and engineering commissioning will take approximately two weeks, followed by around three weeks of science verification. All going well, we anticipate scheduled shared-risk observations to start from around 19 December. Once it is confirmed that the new system is stable, the observing schedule for the remainder of the 2025OCT semester will be released. 

BIGCAT update – October 2025

The ATCA will be offline from Sep 1 – Oct 20 for the ATCA infrastructure upgrade. The ATCA schedule for shared-risk observations starting on Oct 20 has now been released. During the infrastructure upgrade, antennas CA02 and CA03 were re-wired and equipped with new generators, electrical switchboards, air-conditioning systems, as well as long-travel-, turret-, and translator drives. CA04 was fitted out with the new azimuth and elevation drive systems. The CABB correlator was removed and the BIGCAT racks were moved from their temporary location and permanently installed and cabled up in the screened room at the ATCA.

BIGCAT update – August 2025 

Science commissioning has commenced!! We held a BIGCAT busy week from 11-18 Aug to carry out some of the first science commissioning observations with BIGCAT. Below are some of the early images from BIGCAT commissioning. Lots of small bugs uncovered and still some technical issues to resolve, but all-in-all a very successful observing campaign!