Australian researchers using a CSIRO radio telescope in Western Australia have nearly doubled the known number of ‘fast radio bursts’ — powerful flashes of radio waves from deep space. The team’s discoveries include the closest and brightest fast radio bursts ever detected. Their findings were reported today in the journal Nature. Fast radio bursts come from…
Australian Desert Telescope Views Sky In Radio Technicolor
A telescope located deep in the West Australian outback has shown what the Universe would look like if human eyes could see radio waves. Published today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA, or ‘GLEAM’ survey, has produced a catalogue of 300,000 galaxies observed by the Murchison Widefield…
Faintest Hisses from Space Reveal Famous Star’s Past Life
Astronomers have managed to peer into the past of a nearby star millions of years before its famous explosion, using a telescope in remote outback Australia at a site free from FM radio interference. Research by an international team including astronomers at the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) observing the region at the…
Scientists Discover Hidden Galaxies Behind The Milky Way
Hundreds of hidden nearby galaxies have been studied for the first time, shedding light on a mysterious gravitational anomaly dubbed the Great Attractor. Despite being just 250 million light years from Earth–very close in astronomical terms–the new galaxies had been hidden from view until now by our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Using CSIRO’s Parkes…
Astronomers harness the galaxy’s biggest telescope to make most precise measurement of spinning star
An international team of astronomers has made a measurement of a distant neutron star that is one million times more precise than the previous world’s best. The researchers were able to use the interstellar medium, the ‘empty’ space between stars and galaxies that is made up of sparsely spread charged particles, as a giant lens…
Work Towards Largest Telescope Contracts Awarded
The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) office awarded contracts to prepare for the world’s largest radio telescope yesterday, marking the start of the return on Australia and WA’s investment in the ambitious Square Kilometre Array. “This is a level of engagement only seen in revolutionary projects!”, said Professor Phil Diamond, Director General of the SKA…