CSIRO: Aussies and Kiwis forge a cosmic connection

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CSIRO: Aussies and Kiwis forge a cosmic connection

Post by bystander » Wed May 26, 2010 2:34 pm

Aussies and Kiwis forge a cosmic connection
CSIRO 10/71 - 26 May 2010
Six radio telescopes across Australia and New Zealand have joined forces to act as one giant telescope, linking up over a distance of 5500 km for the first time.

The link-up was a collaboration between CSIRO's Astronomy and Space Science division, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia, and AUT University in New Zealand.

The linked telescope will make images ten times more detailed than those of the Hubble Space Telescope and has already been used to peer into the heart of a galaxy called Centaurus A.

Showing Australia and New Zealand can link telescopes this way strengthens the two countries’ joint bid to host the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope.
Image
Zooming in to the heart of galaxy Centaurus A, 14 million light-years away. This composite image shows the entire galaxy, as imaged by CSIRO radio telescopes; radio emission from a central part of the galaxy, imaged by a US radio telescope; and the innermost part of the galaxy, imaged by the new network of Australian and New Zealand radio telescopes.

Image credit – Whole galaxy: I. Feain, T. Cornwell & R. Ekers (CSIRO/ATNF); ATCA northern middle lobe pointing courtesy R. Morganti (ASTRON); Parkes data courtesy N. Junkes (MPIfR). Inner radio lobes: NRAO / AUI / NSF. Core: S. Tingay (ICRAR) / ICRAR, CSIRO and AUT

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