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Two outdoor radio telescopes synchronized to observe the same point in the sky have helped to better understand one of the most mysterious events in the Universe in a new published research.
It is a peripheral tile of the MWA telescope, located about 1.5 km from the nucleus. The moon illuminates the tile and the ancient landscape. Credit: Pete Wheeler, ICRAR
Curtin University's Wideington Murch (MWA) telescopes and CSIRO's Australian ASKAP SKA Pathfinder telescopes (ASKAP) were exploring the skies for fast radios, which are exceptionally bright energy flashes from space. .
These extreme events last only a few milliseconds, but are so brilliant that many astronomers initially rejected the first recorded radio burst as an observation error.
In the research published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, astronomers describe how ASKAP detected several extremely bright fast radio bursts, but the MWA – which analyzes the sky at lower frequencies – did not see anything, even though it was directed to the same area from heaven at the same time.
The lead author, Dr. Marcin Sokolowski, of the Curtin University node of the International Center for Research in Radioastronomy (ICRAR), stated that the fact that fast radio bursts have not been observed at frequencies lower was highly significant.
"When ASKAP sees these events extremely brilliant and the MWA does not do this, it tells us that something really unexpected is happening; either the sources of fast radio bursts do not emit at low frequencies, or signals are blocked before being routed to Earth, "said Dr. Sokolowski.
Dr. Ramesh Bhat, co-author of the study and also based at ICRAR-Curtin, said considerable coordination was needed for the ASKAP telescope led by CSIRO and the Curtin-led MWA telescope to point to the same area of the sky at the same time.
Both telescopes were able to capture the same view as they are located side by side in the remote wilderness of Murchison, Western Australia.
"Fast radio bursts are unpredictable, so it's not easy to capture them when both telescopes are looking in the same direction," Dr. Bhat said.
"It took several months for ASKAP and the MWA to follow the same area of sky, ensuring the best possible overlap of their views, to give us the chance to get some of these enigmatic explosions.
"The challenge was to make everything happen automatically, but it really paid off."
Dr. Jean-Pierre Macquart, astronomer of ICRAR-Curtin, also co-author of the research, said that rapid radio bursts have puzzled astronomers since the discovery of the first occurred in 2007.
"It's really exciting to have a clue about where these incredible energy bursts come from outside our galaxy," said Dr. Macquart.
"The MWA adds an important piece of the puzzle that has only been made possible by this" technological tango "between the two telescopes.
"This is an exciting development because it brings the two teams together and has the advantage of having both telescopes on the same site.
"Future coordination between teams will also benefit other areas of astronomy, as complementary views of both telescopes can provide a more complete picture of the situation."
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