Spring 2022 ASKAP update

Reaching the final milestone!

The month of October marks the 10th anniversary of ASKAP’s official opening, which kicked off a decade of trials, construction and preparation for full survey operations while generating great science. Even with the success of ASKAP research at current operation levels, the start of full survey operations is when ASKAP’s capabilities will really shine. More data than ever before will be captured from our Universe and head to the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in Perth for processing.

Nothing to this scale has been done before in Australia, so we’re giving it a test run starting on Wednesday 16 November.

This is the first step in a five-year survey program set to answer many outstanding questions about how galaxies form and evolve. As Pawsey’s full Setonix supercomputer comes online, we will begin the most ambitious observing program in ASKAP’s history. We’re not boasting to say that we will be showcasing new discoveries in future editions of this newsletter!

There are nine ASKAP research teams that will be leading the way with new discoveries for the next five years.  We’ve commissioned a series of paintings by Wajarri artists that explores the work of these teams doing science with ASKAP. Local artists spoke to researchers from each of the nine teams to get a sense of their work, then added these ideas to their own painting styles. The first of these paintings, shown here, is by Phillipa Boddington for the DINGO team.

DINGO stands for ‘Deep Investigations of Neutral Gas Origins’, and Phillipa’s artwork shows radio waves emerging from space, which help scientists understand the make-up and evolution of young galaxies. Around the outside are dingo tracks, connecting the sky to the land.

The original painting will hang at the MRO on Wajarri Yamaji Country.

Aidan Hotan, ASKAP Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO and

Rachel Rayner, ASKAP Communications Advisor, CSIRO