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The Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), developed and operated by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has mapped around 3 million galaxies in just 300 hours. This rapid ongoing ASKAP survey is like a Google map of the universe where most of the millions of star shaped point maps are of distant galaxies.
CSIRO Executive Director Dr Larry Marshall said: “ASKAP applies the very latest scientific and technological advancements to age-old questions about the mysteries of the universe and offers astronomers around the world breakthroughs to solve their challenges.”
“All of this is made possible by innovative receivers developed by CSIRO that incorporate progressive scan power technology, which allows ASKAP to generate more raw data at a faster rate than the overall Internet traffic of the Australia.”
“At a time when we have access to more data than ever before, ASKAP and the supercomputers that support it deliver unparalleled insights and use the tools that underpin our data-driven future to improve the lives of everyone.
Thanks to ASKAP, scientists were able to observe 83% of the entire sky. And this record-breaking result proves that a study of the sky can be completed in weeks instead of years.
The results of this study should help astronomers undertake statistical analyzes of large populations of galaxies.
Lead author and CSIRO astronomer Dr David McConnell said: “Astronomers around the world will use this census of the universe to explore the unknown and study everything from star formation to how galaxies and their supermassive black holes evolve and interact.
“With ASKAP’s advanced receivers, the RACS team only needed to combine 903 images to form the complete sky map, much less than the tens of thousands of images needed for the first radio readings over everything. the sky made by the world’s main telescopes. “
“For the first time, ASKAP has flexed its muscles, creating a map of the universe more detailed than ever and at record speed.
“We expect to find tens of millions of new galaxies in future studies.”
The final 903 images and additional information represent 26 terabytes of data.
Mr. Stickells said, “The Pawsey Supercomputing Center has worked closely with CSIRO and the ASKAP team since its inception, and we are proud to provide the critical infrastructure that supports science and has huge impact.”
Journal reference:
- D. McConnell et al. The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey I: Design and first results, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (2020). DOI: 10.1017 / pasa.2020.41
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