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Australia Telescope. Operated by CSIRO as a National Facility since 1990 As a National Facility, the Australia Telescope provides world-class observing facilities in radio astronomy for astronomers at Australian and overseas institutions. Facilities. Parkes 64m diameter single dish
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Australia Telescope • Operated by CSIRO as a National Facility since 1990 • As a National Facility, the Australia Telescope provides world-class observing facilities in radio astronomy for astronomers at Australian and overseas institutions. Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Facilities • Parkes • 64m diameter single dish • Operates over many bands in 0.44 - 22 GHz • including the 13-beam 21cm receiver • Compact Array (Narrabri) • Aperture synthesis array of 6 22m dishes, 6km baseline • 1.2 – 1.7, 2.2 – 2.6, 4.4 – 6.7, 8.0 – 9.2 GHz • 16 – 25 and 84 – 106 GHz • Mopra (Coonabarabran) • 22m single dish • 1.2 – 1.7, 2.2 – 2.6, 4.4 – 6.7, 8.0 – 9.2 GHz • 85 - 115 GHz Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Facilities • Long Baseline Array (LBA) • Parkes, Mopra, ATCA • Hobart & Ceduna (U Tasmania) • Tidbinbilla (NASA Deep Space Network) • offshore facilites • Headquarters, LBA correlator and engineering development in Marsfield Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Past decade - Instrumentation • Parkes • 13-beam 21cm receiver • 8GHz receiver and surface upgrade to 54m • Wideband digital correlator • 10/50cm receiver • ATCA • 214m North Spur • 12/3.5mm upgrade • Mopra • 600 MHz digital spectrometer Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Past decade - Science • Pulsar surveys • ~1000 pulsars discovered • Double pulsar • HI surveys • SGPS • HIPASS • Deep radio continuum • Hubble/Chandra deep fields • 20GHz ATCA survey Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Usage - ATCA • Long Baseline Array (LBA) Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Usage - Parkes Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
User Profile Compact Array Parkes Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Publications Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Student training • ATNF-affiliated PhD students • Joint University-ATNF supervision • Free accommodation at observatories • Support for page charges and one overseas trip • Top-up scholarships available via CSIRO (~2 per year) Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Student training Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
ATNF Developments The Big Five • New Technology Demonstrator (NTD) • Part of SKA Roadmap • Compact Array Broadband Backend (CABB) • 512MHz Digital Filter Bank (DFB) operational • 2GHz available @ Mopra by June 2005 • 8GHz @ ATCA by Jun 07 • Priority of broadband L/S & C/X upgrade? Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
ATNF Developments The Big Five (continued) • Parkes Methanol Multibeam 6 - 6.7 GHz (w/Jodrell Bank) • Preliminary mechanical design complete • Oct 2005 installation • ATCA 7mm system • Construction cost A$6.4M • 50:50 cost sharing • Commissioning Q4 2006 (w/CABB: Q2 2007) Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
ATNF Developments The Big Five (continued) • eVLBI • All stations network-ready • 512MB/s achieved • Huygens demo • 31s photon-to-fringe • Network connections • July 2005? Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Future Strategic Directions • ATCA • Maximise pre-ALMA window-of-opportunity • Parkes • Major survey programs • Mileura • xNTD operations • Australasian LBA • eVLBI network (PKS/ATCA/Hobart/Ceduna/Mileura/NZ) • ATNF • SKA development Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
ATNF Issues • Future of Mopra • Extent of engagement in Virtual Observatory • Managing 3 sites • Investment in new technology: NBR/PKS v SKA • Remote/queue observing • Major new initiatives • Extend N Spur @ Narrabri? • 20GHz Multibeam/FPA development @ Parkes? Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004
Future Mileura Narrabri/Mopra Parkes 2005 Pulsar DFB MOPS 6GHz m’beam 2006 eVLBI eVLBI 7mm 2007 20GHz M’beam? NTD CABB 2008 FPA? Ext N Spur? xNTD 2009 Decadal Plan UNSW, 17 Dec 2004