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Australian astronomers have just mapped 83% of the observable universe, in just 300 hours.
This new study of the sky, which the Australian National Science Agency (CSIRO) described in a statement as a “Google map of the universe”, marks the completion of a major test for Australia’s Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope – an array of 36 antennas anchored in the Western Australia Outback. As astronomers use ASKAP to scour the skies for radio signatures (including mysterious rapid radio bursts) since 2012, the telescope’s full array of antennas have never been used in a single sky survey – until now.
Using the full potential of the telescope, the researchers mapped around 3 million galaxies in the southern sky, according to an article published in the journal Nov. 30. Astronomical Society of Australia Publications. As many as 1 million of these distant galaxies may be previously unknown to astronomy, the researchers wrote, and that’s probably just the beginning. With the success of this first survey, scientists at CSIRO are already planning even more in-depth observations in the years to come.
Related: Scientists unveil the largest 3D map of the universe ever
“For the first time, ASKAP has flexed its muscles, building a map of the universe more detailed than ever and at record speed,” said David McConnell, an astronomer at CSIRO, and lead author of the study. said in a press release. “We expect to find tens of millions of new galaxies in future studies.”
Many sky wide surveys can take months or even years to complete. CSIRO’s new effort, which they called the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey, only took a few weeks of stargazing. While each of the telescope’s 36 receivers took extensive panoramic photos of the sky, a dedicated network of supercomputers worked twice to combine them. The resulting map, which covers 83% of the sky, is a combination of 903 individual images, each containing 70 billion pixels. (For comparison, the highest definition cameras available for sale capture a few hundred million pixels per frame).
Each of these images will be made public through CSIRO’s data access portal, as scientists analyze the results and plan their next sky mapping adventures.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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