Developed by astronomers and engineers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, CRACO is integrated with the ASKAP radio telescope to enhance the detection of fast radio bursts (FRBs) and other astronomical phenomena.
Researchers from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia recently tested the technology. Their findings, published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, report the discovery of two FRBs, two sporadically-emitting neutron stars, and refined positional data for four pulsars. This new capability has since enabled the detection of over twenty additional FRBs.
Dr. Andy Wang from ICRAR, who led the team testing CRACO, expressed excitement over the results.
"We were focused on finding fast radio bursts, a mysterious phenomenon that has opened up a new field of research in astronomy," Dr. Wang said. "CRACO is enabling us to find these bursts better than ever before. We have been searching for bursts 100 times per second and in the future, we expect this will increase to 1,000 times per second."
CSIRO astronomer and engineer Dr. Keith Bannister, whose team developed CRACO, highlighted the scale of its data-processing capability.
"CRACO taps into ASKAP's 'live' view of the sky in search of fast radio bursts. To do this, it scans through huge volumes of data - processing 100 billion pixels per second - to detect and identify the location of bursts. That's the equivalent of sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute," Dr. Bannister explained.
CRACO consists of a network of computers and accelerators connected to the ASKAP radio telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country. The system enhances Australia's status as a leader in radio astronomy research and engineering.
"Once at full capacity, CRACO will be a game changer for international astronomy," Dr. Wang added.
Beyond identifying FRBs, CRACO also detects long-period transients, enigmatic objects within our galaxy. Dr. Wang noted that both fast radio bursts and these transients were initially discovered in Australia, emphasizing the country's ongoing contributions to cosmic exploration.
The CRACO system is slated to be made available to global astronomers via CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility, which also includes Murriyang, the Parkes radio telescope.
Developed through collaboration between CSIRO and Australian and international researchers, CRACO's creation was partially funded by an Australian Research Council grant.
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