ASKAP

Survey Science Projects

ASKAP Survey Science Projects are large (>1500 hrs) and coherent science projects that utilise ASKAP’s wide field-of-view and fast survey speed to enable major science outcomes early in its lifetime.

There is no proprietary period for Survey Science data products. Following validation of the science data processing and observations, Survey Science Project data products will be made available through the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA). Prior to data validation data products are available on a restricted basis to members of the data teams.

Guest Science Projects

Guest Science Projects are observational programs that require less than 1500 hours of observing time to complete. The initial announcement of opportunity was made in May 2023. Refer to the ASKAP secton of the ATNF Telescope Status page for guidance on applying.

Generally, Guest Science Project data and data products will be released publicly into the ASKAP Science Archive without any proprietary period. However, if reasonable grounds are established in the proposal, the TAC will have the discretion to allow a proprietary period of up to 12 months from the last scheduled observations to data and data products from Guest Science Projects.

Target of Opportunity Data Products

All ASKAP Target of Opportunity data products will be released publicly through CASDA without any proprietary period. Refer to the Target of Opportunity page for advice on applying.

For further details and background to ASKAP data access, refer to the full ASKAP User Policy.

Authentication for ASKAP Data Access

Users may search for data products to see what is available in CASDA without any authentication. However, user authentication is required to download data files including calibrated visibilities, images and image cubes. Authentication is also required for catalogue data that has not yet been made publically available. Registering for an OPAL account is the simplest solution for most non-CSIRO users.

Compact Array, Mopra, Parkes and Long Baseline Array

National Facility data obtained from the Australia Telescope Compact Array, Parkes Radio Telescope, Mopra Radio Telescope and Long Baseline Array are made available to other users 18 months after the date of observations, unless a special case for extended proprietary rights is accepted by the Director or Time Allocation Committee. The Space and Astronomy Director may override the release of data at his discretion.

Almost all data recorded with the telescopes are provided through the radio astronomy data archives. However, for the Parkes Radio Telescope, some transient searching and and milli-second survey projects generate extremely high data volumes (many terabytes) and these data are archived on a best-efforts basis.

For Parkes searches of transient sources, observers are encouraged to provide files from particular observations of interest to the ATNF pulsar data archive.

Target of Opportunity and NAPA data

Results from Target of Opportunity and NAPA observations taken with the above facilities should be made publicly available as soon as possible via an appropriate international astronomy service (e.g. IAU circular, Astronomers Telegram, Gamma Ray Burst Coordinated Network (GCN). The results should be made public in time for other groups to follow up the same event.

ToO and NAPA observations have the same proprietary period of 18 months, for the release of raw data as standard observations. Proprietary rights will be suspended, however, if results are not made public within a week of the initial observation. In this case the raw data may be given to other groups. The proprietary rights will be restored after the results have been released.

Replacing time lost from ToO and NAPA Observations

A reasonable attempt will be made to replace time lost as a result of override by a NAPA or ToO proposal, or to equipment failure. Time lost resulting from poor weather, RFI, observer errors or remote observing link failure will not be replaced. The following guidelines apply:

  • In the case of degraded data, the amount of replacement time will be at the discretion of the Head of Science Operations.
  • Lost time will only be replaced if the time available is scientifically appropriate (e.g., compatible LST ranges, suitable receivers available in the case of Parkes, suitable array configuration in the case of ATCA).
  • Generally, replacement time will be scheduled during Director’s Time. At the Head of Science Operations’ discretion, replacement time may also be scheduled during scheduled maintenance. Replacement time cannot displace other scheduled observations.
  • Once allocated, a replacement slot will take of the status of a normal schedule observation and may be displaced by a higher ranked NAPA or ToO proposal.
  • When nearing a proposal deadline, if there is little or no prospect of replacement time being available before the start of the next term, then the proposal should be resubmitted to the TAC. The TAC’s assessment would then be used for further time allocation.

Authentication for ATOA and DAP Data Access

For the ATOA and the DAP, users may search for data products to see what is available in CASDA without any authentication. However, user authentication is required to download data files. Registering for an OPAL account is the simplest solution for most non-CSIRO users.

Data Storage

Radio Astronomy data archives are currently held in several locations in Australia including the CSIRO Space and Astronomy (S&A) headquarters in Sydney, the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Perth and the CSIRO Canberra Data Centre.

As policy, data taken or produced with ATNF facilities are stored in data archive systems on an indefinite basis and are made openly available (following any proprietary period) for multiple re-use.

Publications and Acknowledgements

Please acknowledge ATNF facilities and data archives in publications – see the ATNF Publication Acknowledgement Statements.