Australian Radio Astronomy Facilities Tasso Tzioumis Australia Telescope National Facility CSIRO Spectrum Management Coordinator

May 2004A. Tzioumis2 Overview Radio Astronomy Facilities in Australia – current capabilities The Future – SKA Radio Astronomy – an exciting science

May 2004A. Tzioumis3 Oz Radio Astronomy Facilities

May 2004A. Tzioumis4 Summary of Oz RA facilities Australia Telescope National Facility - Parkes 64m; ATCA 6x22m; Mopra 22m University of Tasmania - Hobart (26m); Ceduna (30m) NASA’s Tidbinbilla antennas (70m & 34m) Long Baseline Array (LBA) – VLBI with all antennas University of Sydney - MOST cylindrical MHz

May 2004A. Tzioumis5 Parkes telescope – the “Dish” 64m antenna, more than 40 years operation, National Facility Receiver bands: 70,50,21,18,13,6,5,3,2,1cm (400 MHz – 22 GHz) Multibeam (13 beams) at 21cm - Hydrogen gas mapping Pulsars (~1/2 time) - most pulsars found (2/3) Single dish operation VLBI operations NASA spacecraft tracking Most sensitive Most RFI susceptible

May 2004A. Tzioumis6 Australia Telescope Compact Array 6 x 22m antennas, near Narrabri, NSW on 6km rail-track Synthesis array: increased sensitivity, better RFI immunity Receiver bands: 20, 13, 6, 3, 1 cm (1 – 25 GHz) 3mm system ( GHz) June 2004 Planned 7mm system National Facility Oversubscribed ~x3 40% international usage Operation: 24/7

May 2004A. Tzioumis7 Mopra ATNF 22m antenna – National Facility 110 km from ATCA – short VLBI spacings Rx 1-22 GHz bands – mainly VLBI GHz (3 mm) Single dish & VLBI VSOP support

May 2004A. Tzioumis8 U Tasmania – Hobart (Mt. Pleasant) 26m ex-NASA antenna, X-Y mount Rx 1-22 GHz range Single dish – pulsars, spectra, students VLBI – LBA VLBI – Geodesy Near Hobart - RFI

May 2004A. Tzioumis9 U Tasmania – Ceduna In South Australia – ex-telecom dish 30m beam-waveguide Rx 2-25 GHz Single-dish - spectra, fluxes VLBI

May 2004A. Tzioumis10 NASA – Tidbinbilla Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking complex 70m and 34m antennas S/X tracking Rx/Tx 1.6 & 22 GHz astronomy Rx Spectroscopy – most sensitive - mainly at 22 GHz H2O masers VLBI – LBA & Geodesy Limited access for astronomy

May 2004A. Tzioumis11 MOST  SKAMP 2 x (778m x 11.6) EW cylindrical reflectors 843 MHz (4 MHz bw) – Imaging; surveys SKA demonstrator upgrade – MHz Multibeaming Linear feeds RFI mitigation No extra protection EIS cooperation

May 2004A. Tzioumis12 VLBI Telescopes in Oz

May 2004A. Tzioumis13 The Long Baseline Array – LBA The ATNF, UTas & NASA antennas operate in Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) mode Extremely high resolution (milliarcseconds) Recorded data on tapes (S2 system - VCRs) Correlated later at LBA correlator in Sydney National Facility support Operate at all bands 1-22 GHz Possible optical fibre network links (eVLBI) Less susceptible to RFI

May 2004A. Tzioumis14 National Facility Operations ATNF facilities (ATCA, Mopra, Parkes, LBA) – open to all Proposals every 6 months (June 1 & Dec 1) Statistics: 30% ATNF; 30% Oz Unis; 40% international Web info at Collaborations and help for new people. Encourage to get in touch and propose!!

May 2004A. Tzioumis15 Asia Pacific Telescope - APT VLBI coordination for Asia Pacific All telescopes in region (at cm) Used in supporting VSOP Astronomy and Geodesy Collaboration for new entrants (Note: Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT))

May 2004A. Tzioumis16 RA Protection Measures Licenses for main RA allocated bands for Parkes and ATCA Details of allocations in Australian Spectrum Plan Footnote AUS87 outlines all bands and telescopes for RAS in Australia. Productivity Commission recommended “radio sensitive zones” around RA facilities “Notification” and not protection zones Experience with ACA, Defence and Industry - friendly and collaborative relations

May 2004A. Tzioumis17 Future RA facilities - SKA The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) 1 km^2 of collecting area - extremely sensitive Cost ~ US$1Billion; 12 country consortium Frequencies: ~100 MHz - ~25 GHz Technologically very challenging RFI Mitigation built in Currently in R&D phase

May 2004A. Tzioumis18 SKA Philosophy

May 2004A. Tzioumis19 SKA – Concepts “Arecibo” style reflector China Large Adaptive Reflector (LAR) Canada Allen Telescope Array SETI Institute, US Planar Array Netherlands Luneburg Lense Australia

May 2004A. Tzioumis20 Possible SKA Configurations Dense “core” (50%) + antenna “clusters”

May 2004A. Tzioumis21 SKA timelines Site proposals - Australia, China, South Africa, USA,…  2006 decision Require: Modern infrastructure; “Radio quietness” ; local support Australian advantage: “radio quietness” - WA – “best” site? Concept decision 2008  demonstrator 2009 Funding ; 2012 Construction start 2015 Initial ops; 2020 Full ops

May 2004A. Tzioumis22 SKA - New Technology Demonstrators Funded to build technology demonstrators for many of the new ideas (>$10M) CSIRO/Universities/Industry/Governments 2 GHz BW at ATCA – by 2006 Eager to demonstrate at WA site HIFAR – instrument for red-shifted H MHz bands? NTDs under vigorous discussion and review.

May 2004A. Tzioumis23 SKA - Spectrum implications “Radio Quiet Zone” at SKA site Strong Protection of “core” site More protection & coordination needed Requires Government support at all levels - local, State, Federal Support from other stakeholders – Defence? Easier in Australia as all SKA in 1 country

May 2004A. Tzioumis24 Summary Australia has many world-class RA facilities with international impact SKA is the RA future and could be built in Australia. “Radio quiet” zone desired. RA & other services e.g. Defence, Comms industries can work together. Radio Astronomy is an exciting science - many “weird and wonderful” objects

May 2004A. Tzioumis25 RA – Supernovae Supernova SN1987A – 22 GHz ATCA - May 2004 Large Magellanic cloud ~ light years away Can be seen from South only

May 2004A. Tzioumis26 RA – Pulsars Neutron stars Lighthouse effect Very accurate clocks 1 st Binary pulsar Parkes Periods of 23 ms & 2.8s hr orbit ly away

May 2004A. Tzioumis27 RA – X-ray Binaries

May 2004A. Tzioumis28 RA – Active Galactic Nuclei ATCA image Radio (red) on optical (blue) Jets into ISM Black-hole in core Accretion disk

May 2004A. Tzioumis29 RA – Gravitational lenses

May 2004A. Tzioumis30